Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board an actual trip report posted in trip reports

Day hiked to peaks 300 meters above upper boyscout. Adverse conditions highly exaggerated. Summit missed due to blond moment of packing my bivy sack but leaving sleeping bag at home. Talk about feeling stupid. Conditions are the same as summit report from Richard in late November. Temps at portal were 15-20 at night.

Thanks for the report Len. How much snow is up there? I drove by Whitney today and it doesn't look like there is much more than a dusting.

How come you didn't call if you were heading up?

How the heck did you get up to LBSL?

Passing on some information that I got in an e-mail: 8-10 inches of snow with postholing along the edge of the drainage.

Doesn't sound fun to me, but it does sound like it is a little easier than what I encountered a couple of weeks ago.

And so you can compare: Len is an animal. He's quite capable of not climbing anything for several months and then deciding he wants to summit Whitney on day two from sea level. I once watched (Are you kidding, I wasn't about to waste the energy required!) as he powered his way up 3/4 of the couloir on the MR in waist deep snow before giving up. The three other climbers on that trip (including me) watched and waited for him to perform a miracle so that we could cruise up to the summit. The best part... not a single complaint about the slackers that he had as partners that day.