Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum Can't Do Whitney Next Week... What else is around?

So, my friend and I had been planning on doing Whitney thrusday and friday next week (7th + 8th), but with all of the snow, it does not look promising:(

We've got a week to poke around the woods and mountains and even get some turns in. I've just recently moved to San Diego from the east coast, and my friend is coming in from Australia (and bringing all of his gear).

We would love to have a few nights out in the eastern sierras and gain a few thousand feet, but if the conditions aren't there, maybe we should drive somewhere else?

What are a couple of kids to do? Ideas suggestions? We've got bivys, boards, axes, beers, ropes... the list goes on. Whats fun and wont kill us with avalanches?

Cheers,
Tim

Check the avi reports at esavalanch.org (or Steve Larson has been posting them here as well) first.

We were climbing Mt. Alice a few weeks ago, and some other friends were hitting Mt. Kid, just south of us. That would be a good place to start. Big Pine Creek TH out of Big Pine.

-L

For a little less snow - check out the Inyo's across range in the Valley - you can hike some nice elevation gain hikes and have a reasonable shot at some peaks. Inyo and Keynot are always a favorite

You may have a clear week of no snow after Sunday. Avalanche dangers may have subsided a bit by the 8th if there's no new snow. If you're coming from San Diego and don't want too much driving, hit the Mt. Baldy bowl outside LA. They got 3 feet last week but the weather doesn't predict much precip this week. There's a ski hut and a nice 2000 foot vertical backcountry bowl to snowboard down. If you want to stay in the hut, It's free but be sure to make reservations.

http://www.angeles.sierraclub.org/lodges/Pages/hutwinter.html

http://angeles.sierraclub.org/lodges/sanantonioskihut.html

Thanks for the ideas guys. I think we'll head up to lone pine and talk to everyone up there, see if any great ideas come to mind.

I just want it to get obscenely warm and melt all of those avalanches away:)

cheers!
-tim