Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board White Mountain

I have a couple of questions on White Mtn.........I'm planning on climbing (w/ 2 sons) it the week of Nov 2-6 (weather permiting).

1. Is the road to the locked gate generally driveable, except during a major storm? I have a 4wd SUV with good ground clearance and chains, if needed.

2. Any guesses on snow depth towards the summit? Would this definitely be a crampon and ice axe climb or is it too early in the year for much snow accumulation?

3. What is best source for updated weather/mtn conditions for White?

Many thanks, and my thoughts are with Wade.


Hollywood

Hollywood:

Can't say for White proper, but I can tell you the east side of the Whites (where the final switchers of the jeep road take you to the summit) has a good amount of snow on it. White is on the far left of the photo in the distance, this pic taken from the summit of Boundary last Saturday.

Snow on Whites

There are a lot of sections of the long road in that are north-facing as well, so they will also keep snow. It's a little deceiving looking up from B-town, as the west is melted off entirely.

The final slope isn't that steep, so I would think a bit of snow would actually make it more pleasant! The deepest I sank into drifts further north last weekend was about knee-deep.

Hope it works out for you! Agree with Steve: call the White Mtn Ranger station first.

-L

For current road conditions look at:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/rec-reports/white-mtn.shtml

For really current conditions call the number given at the site above.

For White Mountain weather, the weather station at the summit is good, when it is working:

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/weather/wmtn.html

It also has historical data you can view.

After the mid-October storm, there was snow on the road down below Schulman Grove. Eventually, the gate just past the Sierra View point gets locked for the winter leaving a very long walk. Call for the status of this gate.

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

Thank you for your responses........I called the Ranger Station and they informed me that the road is plowed to within 4 miles of the locked gate.......this makes it 11 miles each way.

In the cold, with brutal winds, with no sleep, with a bum knee that only barks when I climb..........

Hollywood53

Read the report at:

http://www.wmrs.edu/road%20status.htm

When you say or hear "locked gate" you need to make sure which one everyone means. The gate at Barcroft, locked to the public 363 days a year, is only 7 miles from the top of White Mountain. When the seasonal closure gate at Sierra Viewpoint is locked, it adds another 20 miles or so each way.

This time of year, "road open" may mean 4wd with chains on the White Mountain Road.

Of course, the ridge east from the south side of Jeffery Mine Canyon is less than 8 miles from the 2wd high clearance parking to the summit, no gates, no trail, no water and 8,600' vertical any time of year.

Dale B. Dalrymple

Unexpected weather caught some people between the locked and unlocked gates on the White Mtn Road over Thanksgiving, reported in the Sierra Wave. All returned safely.

Dale B. Dalrymple

You have to question the integrity of the article when it starts out with "unexpected storm" - it should say "unprepared motorists".

The article is accurate unless you think that the unprepared motorists expected to be stranded by the storm. It's the expectations of the motorists that should be questioned. That's the point I got from the article and apparently so did you. News reports don't usually declare that kind of judgment, that's what posts on message boards are for.

Dale B. Dalrymple

Maybe the article was quoting the motorist when reporting "unexpected storm". I did not read it that way. The storm was predicted to bring snow levels down to 5k feet and seemed to be pretty accurate. Definately unprepared motorist.