Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Trail condition in mid to late Sept

Hi,

On July 9th this year, I barely completed main Whitney trail for the first time. Although some people might be happy with just being able to complete the trail, but I'm not

So I want to hit the trail one more time in Sept given that I can get a walk-in permit.

I wanted to find out what the general weather condition is like in mid to late Sept? Does it get too cold late in the month? Will there be more chance of rain and thunderstorm than earlier season? Finally, does it get better on the second time on the trail?

Thank you.

Thx123

This is my time of choice. The temperatures can be downright freezing cold. However, if you have enough warmies you will do just fine.

When I say freezing I mean single digit freezing with wind. I've seen people cross the west side shorts and a long sleeve top while I was wearing lightweight down jacket. I was chilled, they were freezing their rear ends off.

My first summit was October 11th. It's different every year, so plan accordingly. I wore clothes I could strip off as it got warmer and the Sun came up.
Waterfalls and stream were frozen, but you could still get water from openings in the stream and the first spring on the way up. I left clothes at Outpost on the way up, picked them up on the way back. Sept "should" be okay.

I'll second that Joe, the last time up in mid-September it was only freezing on the summit and the winds were still. The sunrise, as always, was unbelievable.

As an aside, I've walked on Lone Pine Lake the first weekend in November...once. I've never seen similar conditions this early before or since.

I will be going in late September as well. Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. I have heard and read about the various conditions that occur during September. Everything from stormy snow conditions to beautiful, warm and sunny. I guess thats the beauty of Whitney. You never know what you are going to get.

That sounds about right for that time of year.

We went over NAP on mid September and saw two or 3 people and 20+ deer from the top up the pass to Lower Trail Crest. The weather was absolutely beautiful until summit day...<10 F with 30 to 40 MPH winds. It was in the 70s when we reach WP that early afternoon but Mt. Whitney was experiencing big ass electrical storms.

If you don't like the weather in the Sierra, wait 5 minutes.

Thank you so much for the info. It'll be very helpful.

Thx123

Here is what the Main Trail looked like last Sept; Sept 16th to be exact...

http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php...amp;ski=Include

nyhiker,

This is an excellent trip report and photo tour! Thanks for posting.

I'll be going mid September as well from Cottonwood Lakes. I did the same route in 2006 around the same time and had great weather and no bugs.

Keep an eye on the weather. The week prior to one of our mid-September trips had day time temperatures in the 40s and night times below 10 at our planned camping areas.

It can get awfully cold on the wrong side cold fronts this time of year. The coldest summer night I have spend in the Sierra was at 9,600' in August after a cold front passed through...colder than most of my snow camping trips.