Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney Report 6/19 - 6/21

Just returned from a fantastic weekend up the main trail. We hiked up to Consultation Lake on Saturday, summited Whitney and Muir on Sunday and headed back down Monday. The cables are now in place which made life real easy getting up the switchbacks. There are a few snowfields above the cables and just below the summit but they aren't much of a concern. The snow was soft by 8am and they could be safely avoided altogether if you needed to...and it's melting quickly! Thunderstorm and hail hit about 3:00pm on Sunday while we were resting in our tent...it pays to be off the mountain early. The clouds were building by 11am on Monday as we headed down.

Photos

Thanks a lot for the report and all the good pictures! It looks fantastic! I have a permit for the 28th. Do you think ice axe and crampons are necessary? Where would you recommend I camp if I want to make a high camp on the 28th and summit and return to the bottom on the 29th?

Unless there is a major weather change ice axe and crampons won't be necessary on the 28th. What snow is left is melting fast and is soft by 8am. The only "dicey" part we found was the cables...but the cables are up now so it wasn't a problem.

For a high camp you could choose Trail Camp or Consultation Lake. Trail Camp is a bit closer to the summit ( maybe 1/4 mile ) and has a nearby water source but is packed with people. Consultation Lake is uncrowded but most of the camping spots are off the trail a bit and up from the water a bit. Take your pick, either will work fine for you.

Awesome pics! I'm jealous! On our trip (6/10 - 6/12), our friend who was taking the pictures on his digital camera forgot his second memory card, and we ended up with only about 40 pics!

It's still awesome up there, though!!

Thanks JCB for the informative report and the great photos. It's nice to know that the cables are in place. I'll be up there in a week and will definitely bring an ice axe in hopes that there's still enough snow to glissade down on. I was going to bring a snow shovel to dig out the cables section some as a public service (I'll have an extra day on this trip), but it looks like it may not be necessary.

By the way, everyone, thank each ranger you see for hauling up the heavy cable as getting it up there is a huge pain (or it was last time I heard).

Hey JCB, I was the guy that climbed Muir with you on the way down from Whitney. Nice pictures! I just posted some of mine as a new message. What a climb, eh?!

Hey Justin, great climbing with you. Check your email!

Jason