Current reports of only needing spikes and poles are totally wrong. Come Monday climber best wait a few days after the storm and then plan on taking the chute.
I met up with Sai, (Shiva here on WZ) at midnight. We took off at a slow but deliberate pace.
Weather was nice, but cold, dropping into the 20's on the granite bluffs above Mirror Lake. We donned helmets and spikes (micro-spikes) below Trail Camp, but they weren't needed until the first couple of the 99 Switchbacks.
We weren't moving fast, we got to Trail Camp in 6 hours. For the entirety of the morning we discussed scenarios where we might separate, but due to the reports we were hearing, we should have no problem in reaching the summit.
I usually break the switchbacks into three sections. The first section involves the switchbacks of moderate length and incline ending at the cables (likely 30 switchbacks). The middle third involve the short, steep, and tightly winding switchbacks (about 60), these are the trickiest and the most exposed. The top third are long, moderate in incline and are around 5-10 switchbacks.
We topped out the bottom third when we arrived at the cables around 7. There was one individual who passed us early on, I assume he made the top, he had axe and crampons. As we reached the cables, a fit group of three young guys turned back, one had axe and pons, the other two had poles and spikes. We ran into two hikers who had axes and spikes and we convinced them to give it another go if we tried to chop steps with out axes.
As we began the cables there were iced over footprints that allowed easy passage with a keen sense of good balance. The first switchback past the cables does a steep 180. We chopped a few steps, but the snow quality was consolidated sugar: solid for now, but bound to be sloppy and loose in an hour or two.
Cutting up onto the first switchback, it became clear that this middle third would be tricky. The snow was piled up on the switchbacks. A thin, lightly canted path with crampon tracks marked the most viable track with a set of deep footprints on the outermost edge of the switchback (the edge). We followed the footprints for about 30 yards, but the snow quality got worse, the downhill side of the foot prints threatened to break and dump us out into the void. We were well-belayed with our axes, but we had to take a considerable amount of effort and time to sink our axe spikes deep enough to be adequately belayed.
I kicked myself for having left my crampons in the car. We paused, talking with our new partners. They had talked to a couple with crampons from the day before. That couple had made the summit, but they had crampons and they had to wait at Trail Crest until 3pm for the snow on the switchbacks to harden again.
Looking ahead, I'd guess that we'd have at least 5 switchbacks of this tricky snow, maybe more. It sounded like the crest would be easier, but since I was running on 2 hours of sleep, waiting until 3PM at the crest, and another 4-5 hours after that back to Portal, best case scenario made me think twice.
Oh, I was postholing in the postholes too.
Making the summit was about a 60% chance, but if we did I had a 100% chance of needed to shell out extra cash for a hotel, and getting down too late to get anything to eat in town. There was also a great risk of taking a bad fall.
Not gonna lie, was more concerned about missing out on beer.
Derek was down to continue while his partner wasn't. Sai also wasn't exactly interested in continuing on. This would mean that we would be forcing our group to wait MANY hours.
If I lived out of state, or this was my first time I might be swayed, but I'm not putting victuals and life on the line for Whitney summit #8
We turned around, passing both newbies and experienced outdoors-people, each of them gawking at the switchbacks above.
Heading down, we got the opportunity to burst the bubbles of a number of hikers who received bad info regarding the viability of the poles/spikes recommendation.
The trip down was beautiful. People never really talk about the scenery near Whitney. Most people gripe about the permits, the logistics, the rigors of hiking/backpacking, AMS, and other things. The Whitney portal region is absolutely gorgeous, most people experience her in the summer months during the day when the noonday sunlight washes out the shadow and texture of the mountains. The low autumn sun really made the region explode in texture, depth and color. Though I was mad about the outcome of the day, I really enjoyed the sights.
However for those looking at going up Whitney, I'd plan on needing full winter gear, and going up the chute after this next storm on Monday-Wednesday.
Check out my Instagram below for photos over the next couple days.
@jjoshuagregory (Instagram) for mainly landscape and mountain pics
