Our group of 4 summitted via the main trail on Monday May 15 around 9am in a light snow.
We left Whitney portal at 6 am on Sunday May 14. We started hiking on snow two miles in. Postholing was not an issue at all for us. We did not bring snowshoes, and if we had we would not have used them. One of our group members brought skis and started skinning at Mirror Lake. We camped around trail camp at 12,500 ft. No running water. We didn’t see any dirt or flat rocks to camp on so setup on snow. We woke at 4 am on May 15 to clouds over the mountain and this turned into light snow and deteriorating visibility by 5am. We left our camp wearing crampons and didn’t take them off until we returned to trail crest after summitting.
Crampons, solid mountaineering boots, and ice axe were a must have. Skis were not used on the chute and were left at camp. From trail crest to the summit, there was a rocky/icy/snowy boot track to the summit that was in much better shape than we expected.
There were 2 packs in the summit shelter which must belong to the two people that were flown off the summit on the 14th. By the time we returned to trail crest there was about 4 inches on new snow accumulation and the snowfall was increasing. The glissade down the chute was smooth. The ski down from trail camp to mirror lake was marginal at best and knowing what we know now, would not have brought skis. The pizza in lone pine was good.
