Are crampons and ice axes still recommended for taking the switchbacks? Or does being "passable" mean that the snow has melted enough to do without them?
Questions like these are asked a lot, and there are plenty of things wrong with them. A few that aren't mentioned often enough come to mind:
- We don't know you and your skill level, experience, judgement, etc., on the terrain you are inquiring about. We can guess, but if the guess is wrong, you could die.
- When someone responds, you usually don't know the same about them. There are those whose advice I would take into consideration, and those I would not. The spectrum is wide.
- The operational phrase is "take into consideration" not "take as gospel."
- You ask questions on June 2 and plan to be there on June 7. Responses, even if accurate based on the conditions one day, can be worse than meaningless several days later. This is particularly true for terrain (like the switchbacks) in a season (like right now) where even a day can make a big difference.
- Continuing on this theme, snow conditions can change drastically with the time of day, cloud cover, weather, etc. We don't know when you plan to be there on the ascent, nor when you plan to come down. Worse, time schedules often do not work out as planned on Mt. Whitney.
This absolutely isn't intended as a lecture. As I said at the start, questions like yours are asked all the time, and understandably so. They should continue to be asked, and people with pertinent information should continue to offer it. I'm just replying in a way you didn't expect.
