Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Whitney Won! March 4th thru 7th

Whitney Won! My team got to 13,600 ft and turned around. Zero Visibility and -25 wind chill and 12" of new snow beat us.

Anyway, here is what I can tell:

Road closed at 6550 ft we drove up to 6700 then hiked to portal. 3.5 miles 2000 ft gain. I don't see you being able to get much further than that for a while.

Once we left main trail there was no track, snow at times up to my knees with 30" snow shoes. The Gully by Ebersbacher Ledges is a rough go, we stayed left of the stream on the way up, stayed off the ledges.

Made camp at Lower boy scout lake. With weather moving in we adjusted our plan and just went to Upper Boy Scout and went light and fast for the summit on third day. (the plan was great) We left tent at 4:30 Am and by 6:00 we made Iceburg and by 8 we were 13,600 ft. With zero vis it was time to turn around.

We had snow about 8" to 10" deep with breaking trail all the way with snow shoes. Never need crampons during our try just too much snow.

At one point coming down I took off snow shoes and dropped to my waist in snow.

Over all a great time in the portal area!

Good job. I would have taken the hike up the road to the portal and upon seeing the WPS closed and no chance for a pancake or Burger turned around.The rest of the trail will have to wait until there is no snow for me.

Thanks for posting, Bernie. Congratulations on a successful trip -- it sounds like a very memorable experience.

Do you have any pictures?

And how many were in your group?

There were 3 of us and I have several photos and will try to post them when i figure out how to.

If you have an account with a photo hosting website such as Flickr, SmugMug, Webshots, Picassa (and a couple of others that I'm sure I'm forgetting about), then all you have to do is upload them to an online photo album on that site, and then post a link to that album here.

CaT

Actually Bernie you won. You came back alive with another opportunity to conquer the summit another time.There is no winning or losing when you are in the Sierras.There is only the experience and living in the Moment.

Very true, It's all about enjoying the great outdoors with great friends. Not how many summits you bag.

I keep telling folks many of my experience around the MMWT have been when there was not a thought of reaching the summit. You know, like walking on Lone Pine Lake on November day or climbing up the slope from Trailside Meadow to Consultation Lake in the middle of January with not a soul around.

http://picasaweb.google.com/101459798150452738418/Whitney#

I think this is the link to the picasa account I just opened. I have 14 pictures up there for viewing. Enjoy

Thanks Bernie. Great pictures. Now THAT's a winter camp!

Excellent, Bernie!
Glad you figured out the picture uploader.

CaT

Congrats on an awesome trip, Bernie! And thanks for sharing the photos,

Fantastic pics. I don't know what ledge that is someone is standing on in the dark but that looks pretty hairy. I would have thought it is the E ledges but you said you avoided them.Very pristine beauty.Thanks for sharing.

Now Doc, doesn't that make you want come out and play with us in the winter?

It makes me think about it but then the reality of sleeping on the snow. The constant concern about staying warm and dry.Boots on and off. Threats of blizzards make those thoughts go away.

Damn, that's nothing that a -20* F sleeping bag and two pads doesn't solve. I usually sleep in my undies in the middle of winter...just like summer.

Dry = warm...and I always have a lot of dry clothes in the winter.

The key to winter time camping.

That ledge is just the trail we cut into the slope below Iceburg lake. We stayed right of the drainage going up to Iceburg.

Definitely a Xmas Card picture, Bernie!