Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion june 18th - 1st time summiting

To expand a bit on + @ti2d's comments - it's likely that trail between Trail Camp (about 12.2K') and Trail Crest (13.6K') will be covered in deep snow/ice, so the route will be a broad snow slope for that 1,100'. If you've never done one before, it can be somewhat daunting, but just remember to take one step at a time, breathe, and you'll be at Trail Crest in an hour or so, maybe less. Most people use crampons in these conditions, and often glissade (slide on one's butt) down. Be sure to remove the crampons before glissading, and use an ice axe as a brake to check your speed. The tricky thing about this slope is that it "pulls to the left", and you can be drawn into some large boulders towards the bottom, and if you're traveling too fast ... not good. So, the trick on this slope is to walk straight out, following the contour, for a couple of hundred yards, before beginning the slide, and this will help keep you away from the rocks. Keep in mind glissading is not a race - go slowly, braking frequently, and use your heels with caution. And, perhaps most importantly - due to the exposure of this slope it ices up rather early in the afternoon, you DON'T want to glissade if the snow has refrozen as it can be very difficult/impossible to stop. If you're back by 2PM to Trail Crest you should be OK.

If the prospect of glissading totally freaks you out, there's no shame in downclimbing. Just keep in mind it becomes more difficult if the snow has refrozen. In most instances you'd wear crampons for the downclimb.

The route between Trail Crest and the summit is usually more open due to a different exposure, but there's nearly always a rather large snowfield just below the summit. It's not tricky, however.