I am happy to report that we sucessfully climbed and summited mt Whitney last weekend without any incident. We camped the night at trail camp on 20th, summited on 21 and stayed at trail camp and decended down the mountain on 22.
I would like to extend my graditute and thanks to many on this board that helped, answered and tolerated me all this time before the climb. I hope my little trip report can contribute to others that wish to climb Whitney this specially *snowy* season.
1)Bear Cannister is a MUST. Save some money and rent it from the park office. The sporting good store DO NOT HAVE THE SMALLER LIGHTER cannister.
2) THERE ARE STILL A LOT OF SNOW EVERYWHERE ! You NEED Ice Ax and Crampon above Trail Camp and trekking poles and Crampon/Snowshoes everywhere else. Unless you travel at night or early in the morning, YOU WILL BE POST-HOLING as early as 8:00 am ! This will tired one out in very little time especially on the ascent and can sprain an ankle on the descent.
*We had our own Ice Ax and Crampon but didint rent the snowshoes ($11 per pair/day) from the sporting good store. Looking back, I will highly recommend snowshoes.
3) Route Finding: This was our first time up Mount Whitney, armed with only an online route report from the internet and a brochure from the park office. I had my GPS and Compass, but all the maps that the park office are not to appropriate UTM scale. The Lone Pine Sporting Good Store ran out of the good ol' 7 minute map 1:24,000 UTM scale of the area.
* You will be following the main chute up the mountain to trail camp along the stream. Keep the other big guy (mtn Thor) to your right during the ascent. Let the Park ranger show you the route on their miniature scale of the mountain at the Park office. The trail is not that difficult to follow and the margin of error is quite big.
4) It is still Winter up There. We posthole/sunk into anywhere between 4" to 28" of snow all throughout the trip. May 20, the wind was up 30 mph at between Mirror Lake - Trail Camp. We were fighthing the wind, occasional blowing snow and post-holing on the way to Trail camp.
* Know how to prep tent site on snow, set up your tent in cold windy condition and how to properly anchor, stake (deadman) and guy out your tent in snow and strong wind (30mph May 20). On May 21, 22 wind speed is pleasant at 10 mph.
5) Trail Camp --> Summit, knowledge of Ice Ax and Crampon WALKING Usage & Techniques are REQUIRED. Leave the trekking poles and just bring the Ice Ax and crampon.
Trail camp --> Trail Crest ; torturous extremly steep 2.3 mile climb ! (I think, i rather have the 99 switchbacks over this guy) You might also need to later, do controllable glissade on the left side of this section.
Trail Crest --> JMT Junction , this trail following the back of Mount Muir and the needles are the most exposed and most dangerous during the climb. There are A LOT OF SNOW covering the trail hiding loose rocks and sometimes ledges. In the afternoon where the snow became all slushy and with post-holing, if one is not careful, one could fall directly down to the rocky snowfield below (crabtree meadow).
Tip: We used the ice ax in both stake and horizontal positions in couple of tricky places, knowing even self-arrest might not be able to help to hold you fast enough. Self Belay and ALWAYS maintain 3 point of contact at all times ! Make sure you have solid footing before transferring your weights.
If needed, A 30 ft rope and boot belay from the stronger climber might provide additional safety to the weary. rock anchor, Ice screw, deadman anchor or ice fluke WILL NOT work well (especially when the temp is only going to get warmer).
There shouldnt be a problem after you crossed this exposed and rocky section.
Again, pay extra attention on the way back from JMT Junction --> Trail Crest as the snow will definitely be more slushy and be very soft.
Get as earlir start as possible for the summit attempt. The firmer the snow, the safer and easier the trails will be.
-----------------------------------------------
Add'l Notes
* All toilets are still Closed
* Marmots are at full patrol at Trail Camp, Neighbour reported food stolen
* Portal Store were not open yet as of May 22
* Road to portal is snow free
* Careful crossing streams, as snow melts the water can be quite powerful and swift.
* It is advisable that you start early on summit day. This will be less work and more gentle to the body.
------------------------------------------------
SO, SHOULD YOU CLIMB WHITNEY THIS SNOWY SEASON ??
Yes ONLY if you KNOW proper ICE AX and CRAMPON techniques. It is not hard at all and most of them are common sense once you put some thoughts on it.
For starter, read:
http://www.petzl.fr/ProduitsServices/notice_alpinAxes.pdfBy The Way, this was our first Winter Mountaineering Trip. However we do have a lot of background and knowledge from technical rock climbing, Summer Mountaineering and backbacking. We also read a lot of snow and winter mountaineering specific topics from few books before the trip.
Overall, We enjoyed the trip very much and once again thank you for all that helped. IT IS DO-ABLE. I will post pictures and maybe even videos from the trip if needed.
Feel free to email me if you need any questions at all. dxmetal@yahoo.com
Thank You for all that made our summit dream a reality.
Pictures can be found at:
http://faculty.bus.olemiss.edu/jwee/mount_whitney.htm
