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yeah i figured the avalanche risk are high the report was earlier this week havent checked since. a group of us are coming out for 5 days (mon-fri). i was hoping most of everything that was gonna come down would by then if weather stayed clear, but looks like its still getting hit with snow. will probably just end up doing some good ole winter camping around the portal or something. doesnt even sound like we would be able to get much further than that.
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yeah i figured the avalanche risk are high the report was earlier this week havent checked since. a group of us are coming out for 5 days (mon-fri). i was hoping most of everything that was gonna come down would by then if weather stayed clear, but looks like its still getting hit with snow. will probably just end up doing some good ole winter camping around the portal or something. doesnt even sound like we would be able to get much further than that. Just hiking the road was pretty challenging; I can't imagine getting deeper in the backcountry. That said, I'm sure there are some other spots with less rugged terrain that might be suitable for snow shoeing and camping. Or, if you are into skiing, Mammoth should be pretty epic right now!
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Thanks, Luciano, for preceeding us down that three miles of snow! You guys made it a good deal easier on our own 'snow shoveling' endeavors. We still couldn't believe the chest deep snow at the hairpin. Retrieved our 4wheel drive on Wed. Now, 4wd can reach the 'road closed' carpark.
Graham hiked up yesteray with his Aussie daughter, checked on your car, and will post pics of it later.Snow consolidated, good for snow shoeing, but still not good for retrieving cars.
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Thanks so much for the update!! Much appreciated! I'm glad our trench was of help to you :-). I'm guessing we'll need about 4-5 days of sun before the snow is melted enough. Thanks, Luciano, for preceeding us down that three miles of snow! You guys made it a good deal easier on our own 'snow shoveling' endeavors. We still couldn't believe the chest deep snow at the hairpin. Retrieved our 4wheel drive on Wed. Now, 4wd can reach the 'road closed' carpark.
Graham hiked up yesteray with his Aussie daughter, checked on your car, and will post pics of it later.Snow consolidated, good for snow shoeing, but still not good for retrieving cars.
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That looks like it could be there awhile.... 
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Nice Christine! I wish I had had the time to make it up there this past weekend, but didn't leave LA until late-morning yesterday.
I spent a little bit of time with an avalanche safety book over the long weekend and your crystal photos had me wondering what type I was looking at.
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...but I was wondering what the snow pack is like up there. The remote weather stations at Cottonwood and Crabtree are reporting only around 4 feet of snow, so I doubt the Whitney area has any more than that, except at the higher elevations. The deeper snow is probably due to drifting.
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Thanks for the photos!! It's actually my friend's car. We might have to go dig for a few days if he wants it back sooner. We really need a longer stretch of sun but that doesn't seem to be coming any time soon.
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instead of digging, you could try getting out by driving over the snow using several large sheets of 1" plywood as a track. It would be slow going as you rotate the plywood from back to front, but it would be a helluva lot faster than digging out several hundred linear feet of snow (assuming the distance is in that range).
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instead of digging, you could try getting out by driving over the snow using several large sheets of 1" plywood as a track. It would be slow going as you rotate the plywood from back to front, but it would be a helluva lot faster than digging out several hundred linear feet of snow (assuming the distance is in that range). Might not be a bad idea since the snow is more consolidated by now.
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Depending upon the distance, a bucket loader may be in order if you want the vehicle before spring.
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I'm sure that Millers Towing in Lone Pine has a number of options for retrieval from snow. (It's only $$$.) Dale B. Dalrymple http://dbdimages.com
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I'm sure that Millers Towing in Lone Pine has a number of options for retrieval from snow. (It's only $$$.) Dale B. Dalrymple http://dbdimages.com Probably cheaper than a 6-month lease on a replacement Forester for the friend, too ...
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He could probably do without the car; it's just inconvenient. It's probably a little less than a mile. I wonder if it would even be possible to shovel that distance with two people?! We can probably burn a day or two trying.
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Forget about it...  Crazy Chuck from FL tried to make a path thru the avalanche debris that had been piled back up by the road crew (to keep us from heading up while they were working) and didn't even make a dent in the pile after working on it all day. I once cleared a parking space up near the Portal (for exercise) and it took over an hour. Nearly a mile of path wide enough for a car??????
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Hmm, yeah, that doesn't sound good. We probably only have to shovel the top foot of snow since the rest might be consolidated enough to drive on but still...
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Sounds like several people have been up as far as the portal since the big system moved through last week. Several friends and I are planning to hike up into the Whitney Zone next week (the first week of January). We made a similar trip around the same time last year up to trail camp. We are fully prepared for the low temps and slow going due to ice and snow accumulation, but were wondering if anybody had actually hiked anywhere up past the portal. Any information on how the snow is packing down, it's stability, and trail conditions (if any) would be really helpful. If nobody has been past the portal.... we'll probably still come out and give it a go, though we may just end up doing an hour or two of snow removal for the Subaru.
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Adding a little optimism to the plan for getting the car out before Spring...
I heard an interview of the Chief Forecaster for JPL and he still claims it's going to be a dry winter...
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