Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Fall 2010 Conditions on the Main Whitney Trail

For those of you interested in trying to climb Mt. Whitney this fall you should be aware of current conditions, and more importantly how to interpret those conditions to help you decide how to make decisions with safety in mind.

Snow is now present on Mt. Whitney and it will not melt away until late spring or early next summer. You can count on negotiating a snow covered trail from somewhere above Mirror Lake. From the cables until Trail Crest there are hazardous areas where a slip can turn into a fall that can lead to an injury or fatality. This section is part of what most of us refer to as the “97 Switchbacks”. When the area receives more storms you can count on snow lower and higher on the route.

Given these conditions there are certain things to keep in mind if you decide to attempt climbing Mt. Whitney via the Main Trail. This list is not exhaustive but is a good place to start:

(1) Recognize that your ascent will take longer than it would if the trail was dry. Plan extra time into your itinerary to account for this.

(2a) Realize that current conditions require climbers to have learned and practiced several mountaineering skills which include self arrest with an ice axe (this is how you would attempt to stop yourself in the event of a slip on the hard snow and ice), how to walk with crampons on, and how to efficiently climb up and down snow covered slopes.

(2b) This means that ski poles are no substitute for an ice axe. Ski poles are great aids in walking. Ascending a route they are like a portable hand rail. On a descent they help reduce some of the jarring to hiker’s knees. They will do nothing to help stop a person in case of a fall. Yes, some ski poles are made with self arrest grips. This is no substitute for an ice axe.

(3a) The slope between Trail Camp and Trail Crest is north facing. This means it loses sun exposure early in the day. You can be on this slope during a warm sunny day and find the snow comfortable to walk on, but once the sun leaves this slope the snow will become firm, hard, and slick. It will stay that way until the sun hits it again, which might be the next day, or it might take several days if clouds obscure direct rays from the sun. Even with direct sun exposure the conditions could still be firm, hard, and slick.

(3b) Be prepared to climb on firm, hard, and slick snow. If you find yourself on this slope after 2:30 PM (when the sun begins leaving this area) you need to be prepared to negotiate increasingly firm, hard, and slick snow conditions.

(4a) Sliding down the snow on your butt (commonly called “glissading” among the mountaineering community) from Trail Crest is not a safe option. It doesn’t matter if you see tracks from people who have previously done it. Among those who contributed to glissade tracks in previous seasons include several people who lost their lives from the decision to glissade there.

(4b) People have tried glissading here for years. Understand that this slope is subtly angled in such a way that it can pull an unsuspecting mountaineer slowly to the left, which can make you slam into the rocks at a high rate of speed. There have been many injuries and fatalities due to people glissading here.

(4c) If you decide to glissade anywhere on any mountain remove your crampons. Glissading with crampons is never an option. You run a high chance of injuring an ankle, a leg, or worse. It is poor mountaineering technique to glissade while wearing crampons anywhere at any time.

(5a) Remember that the summit should not be your primary goal. Your first goal is to get back to the parking lot safely. If you can stay within a good margin of safety then the summit should be your second goal. This means that just because somebody else decided to ascend in questionable conditions it should not determine what you decide to do. You need to make your decisions based on your known skills and the ability of your group.

Climbing up a mountain is optional, descending is mandatory.

The Cables.



The Switchbacks.



Trail Crest.



The summit (no) view.

Richard,

Great pictures.

If you look at photo #69 in your album that is my little group making its way up to the summit.

I summited Whitney in 2006 in conditions that were the exact opposite...dry, sunny and warm BUT this was much more of an adventure.

We decided early on that summiting was optional and that we'd continue to evaluate the conditions.

I thought that the trail conditions were better after Trail Crest than before. I also felt that the cables weren't that bad either.

We had a great day but if anyone is headed up please monitor conditions closely and please don't be afraid to turn around.

Cheers...

JH

Hi Kurt,

How about the Mountaineers Route? What is to be expected October 16th. Will be up there that day. Have done it twice in April.
Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Berne Mettenleiter

It's still snowing now and the Eastern Sierra Forecast has this storm lasting another day or so. There is probably a foot of new snow up there by now. It is supposed to warm up this weekend. My guess is that snow on any slope that's in the shade will not melt very fast. Any snow receiving direct sunlight will receive some melt.

The Mountaineer's Chute is east facing and therefore gets early morning sun then is in shade for the rest of the day. By October 16 it will probably still have a lot of the snow that has fallen unless temperatures really warm up and stay that way all week.

Assuming there's some amount of snow you can expect to walk on a lot of rocks with a coating of snow over them making traction more slippery. It will probably be a slower climb than it otherwise would be.

The last 400 feet is north facing and doesn't receive a whole lot of sun. It gets a little sun exposure in the afternoon though. This could melt some of the snow making this part of the route a little wet but at night that water would freeze again. Several melt/freeze cycles like this can make for an icy ascent on certain spots of the route.

For some people these conditions might make for a nice challenge but for others this would make for very uncomfortable conditions.

Thanks very much Kurt, for taking the time and responding to me so quickly and answering my concerns.

Have hiked many mountains in the German, Austrian, and Italian alps growing up during all seasons!

Any way thanks again and as we say in German "Bergheil"

Best regards, Berne


PS: Ran into one of your groups April 3rd this year just below the ledges with Bernd(Austrian) as one of there guides, on my way down the M.R. Very professional, chatted with him in our mother tongue of course!

No worries Berne... happy to help! Let me know if you have more questions. I'm glad you ran into Bernd and got to share some conversation in your native tongue! He's a great guy and an excellent guide.

For you and everybody else, the pictures that Richard posted above are from the start of this storm. A lot of snow fell since those pictures were taken.

... as can be seen from the latest Webcam photos. It's winter up there now.

Two of us were planning on doing Whitney Oct. 16 as a day hike via the main trail, but with the recent snow, and reading this post, I have decided to abort this unless conditions change dramatically over the next week.

I am now considering Langley but have never done it, and would like some guidance regarding expected conditions and technical skills required.

My partner is not familiar with winter mountaineering so I wanted to keep the hike non-technical as I won’t have time to properly teach him how to self-arrest. We will have crampons regardless of where we go, but like I said, since I cannot train him on self-arrest, I need to keep it somewhat non-technical.

A few questions:
- Is it safe to assume that Langley is a “safe”, non-technical hike and doable with just crampons, and not requiring self-arrest skills?

- If Langley is safe, is there a good site to download a GPS track?

- If we do Langley as a day hike, how much time should I budget and can someone suggest a hard turn-around time for this time of year? Both of us are in good shape, relatively quick and have been training for months, with a number of lesser summits under our belts with many 5-10+ hour days.

Note: We are both well prepared for adverse conditions, and you won’t find pictures of us near a summit with shorts and tennis shoes on :-).

Yes there isn't much terrain requiring self arrest skills if you take New Army Pass. There are still a couple potential slopes though. The highest one is the last rise before the summit.


Not sure but you can easily make your own way points with Topo! map software or other programs.


I'm guessing it'll be a lot of slow going as you get higher. Unless somebody is ahead of you you'll be breaking a lot of trail. I normally figure on half the time for descending as I do ascending on hikes like this. Langley is somewhat flat though so I would allow more time than that for the descent. Figure out what time you want to be finished with the climb and work your timetable backwards from there. I would plan on being back before dark and leave a buffer in your schedule to assure you do so.

Regardless of whether you reach the summit or not please share your pictures and a trip report. It's always interesting hearing about other people's experiences and I'm sure a lot of folks will be interested to hear a first hand account.

Planning on a trip this comming weekend of the 15th. Can anyone give me current condition. Comming up from Travis Air Force Base.
Thanks Bill

Hi Berne.
Bill here down in Vacaville. Im also looking at the 16th for a climb. Just trying to decide which route. I went up both routs this past winter but never a sunny climb. Weather says sunny all next week.

Bill,
If you have done both in the winter, you should be ok. Just bring all your winter gear! (Ice ax, Crampons, helmet for M.R) We'll be starting at about 6 AM on Sunday. 2 of us Chuck and Berne.


Good luck, Berne Mettenleiter

Thanks Berne for the information.
Just found out everyone has bowed out on me for this upcomming weekend of the 16th of October. I was really looking forward to a fall day climb. Any body climbing just for the day that would like a partner would love to hear from you.
Bill

Consolidated snow on the route. Probably will be real icy early in the morining and slushy in the afternoon. I'll have some more photos up in a couple of days, but they may be meaningless again because of new snow that may be coming in.

Mike on his way up to Trail Crest.



You'd think we were on Everest. (Just short of Trail Crest.)



The West side.



The Switchbacks.



Shin at The Cables.

From the post "Let's join with Richard P...", Richard P. wrote:

"...(could have been another summer ascent (except for the waist deep snow we encountered all over the mountain"

Any word on the need for snow shoes on the main trail, or is the post holing not that bad?

Richard,
Congrats on the 100! quite an accomplishment! My dad and I are planning on hiking to trail camp on 10-16-10 and then back down to the portal. We do not have any winter gear to speak of. Will we need crampons or is it safe to hike without the gear?

Thanks,
Ross

Richard -
Congrats on #100. That's an accomplishment - and to do it on 10/10/10 - very cool.
Quick question:
I was planning on summiting Russell this weekend on 10/16 via the UBL and then the east ridge. With the amount of snow that I saw from your photos of 10/10 trip up the main route, I'm a bit concerned that there will be too much snow on the east ridge for safe passage. How much snow do you think is on the east ridge of Russell? Is the scree slope up to the Russell/Carillon pass above UBL covered in snow? If we instead decide to summit Whitney up the Mountaineers Route - do we need crampons up the chute above Iceberg Lake? Any info would be nice. It may be too late in the season by a week or two.

The waist deep snow comment is some of my sarcasm related to some reports coming off of the mountain last week. You'd be hard pressed to find any snow deeper than calf level.

No need for snowshoes.

As far as other gear and conditions in other places: I can't comment because I don't know what things will be like in a few days. As you can see from the webcam photo, the snow is melting fast on slopes exposed to sun. That also means melt/freeze, so things could be icy early and late.

I didn't use any gear last Sunday, but lots of people were using MicroSpikes and crampons.