I did Whitney today via the main trail. Aside from a few minor patches, the snow line is now approx 13K'. As far as I could tell, everyone was using the chute for ascending/descending. I looks like someone did the switchbacks several days ago, but no recent traffic. Right now the trail is snow-covered above 13K, including the west side (other side of Trail Crest).
Thanks for the report, Kevin! If the snow level is about 13K, it sounds like Trail Crest is pretty much free of snow. Is that what you found?
Aside from a few snow patches, there isn't any snow in Trail Camp. The little pond is ice-free but Consulation Lake is still mostly ice-covered. The first 6 or 8 switchbacks above Trail Camp have melted, and the snow begins at the top of the glacial moraine (at least I think that formation is a moraine). At that point the foot path up to the Chute levels out somewhat, and it's snow-covered (except for the odd clear patch) all the way to the summit. There is a melted out area extending downward about 50' from the eastern lip of Trail Crest itself.
Does that make it clearer? My recollection is that Trail Camp is about 12.5k', and 6 or 8 switchbacks might add another 500'. IIRC, Trail Crest's sign is 13.8K'.
Talked with a ranger at the VC today. He said the forecast is for cooler weather towards the end of the week, with a possibility of snow on the weekend. Said they've had more snow is the first 3 weeks of May than they've had all year.
And, not to add fuel to the fire, but ... I read the thread on glissading. FWIW - of the 12-15 people descending the Chute when I was, only one was downclimbing. The rest were doing very controlled glissades.
