Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney Main Trail Conditions 2014 (Out-of-Date)

Questions like these are asked a lot, and there are plenty of things wrong with them. A few that aren't mentioned often enough come to mind:

• We don't know you and your skill level, experience, judgement, etc., on the terrain you are inquiring about. We can guess, but if the guess is wrong, you could die.
• When someone responds, you usually don't know the same about them. There are those whose advice I would take into consideration, and those I would not. The spectrum is wide.
• The operational phrase is "take into consideration" not "take as gospel."
• You ask questions on June 2 and plan to be there on June 7. Responses, even if accurate based on the conditions one day, can be worse than meaningless several days later. This is particularly true for terrain (like the switchbacks) in a season (like right now) where even a day can make a big difference.
• Continuing on this theme, snow conditions can change drastically with the time of day, cloud cover, weather, etc. We don't know when you plan to be there on the ascent, nor when you plan to come down. Worse, time schedules often do not work out as planned on Mt. Whitney.

This absolutely isn't intended as a lecture. As I said at the start, questions like yours are asked all the time, and understandably so. They should continue to be asked, and people with pertinent information should continue to offer it. I'm just replying in a way you didn't expect.

Looking at the above pictures through the eyes of someone who has only summited Whitney once, I would say that the report of the "Switchbacks being open and usable" is highly overrated (at the moment that the pix were taken) Not much room for error.

Our group is tentatively planning a trip from Horseshoe Meadow to Whitney Portal starting June 22st, and have been grateful for everyone's posts regarding conditions on the Whitney Trail. Has anyone come up the JMT from Guitar Lake recently? How are the conditions on the way up to Trail Crest?

And more generally, does the JMT/west slope of Whitney typically thaw out a bit sooner than the east side/Whitney Trail? Seems like the JMT climbs a slope facing roughly west (as opposed to north-east for the Whitney Trail between Trail Camp and Trail Crest).

> Has anyone come up the JMT from Guitar Lake recently?
josen88 answered your question: Horseshoe Meadow to Whitney portal memorial day weekend.

Steve, Bob, and Bee -

Thanks for the info. Super helpful!

Me and the wife encountered Dave at the switchbacks. Those pics look pretty spot on. Dave was actually removing some snow with his ice axe. Really nice guy.

Robbo posted this in the Trip Reports forum: June 2nd. Only reached Trail Crest.

I am working of a full trip report, but here are the conditions we found on 6/3 - 6/4:

The trail was mostly clear of snow from Whitney Portal to Trail Camp. There were a few snowy/icy patches, but it easy to walk around these.

It was very warm on 6/4. When I checked the temperature @ Outpost Camp around 2:00 AM it was 40°. As a result, the snow was soft we easily hiked the bottom 1/3 of the chute with crampons and hiking poles. After that point, an ice ax is recommended/needed. I didn't check the temperature again until we were leaving the summit around 9 am. It was 50°.

There were a few snowy/icy patches between Trail Crest and the summit. They didn't bug me much on the ascent, but on the way down, when I was tired, they made me a little nervous. We ran into people convincing others in their groups that it was ok to proceed.

@ 11:00 am, the chute was very soft overall, but there were some hard icy patches. I had to self arrest twice to slow down. There is no way I could have done this with hiking poles. My 'butt-speedometer' says my speed increased by 50% or more in a matter of seconds. The snow in these sections was hard enough to rip a hole in my waterproof pants. At the bottom we were post-holing... so just because the snow is soft and slushy where you're standing, it doesn't mean that's the case for the entire chute.

We probably talked to 15-20 people between the summit and Trail Camp. We were the only ones that went up the chute, but others were talking about going down the chute with hiking poles to self-arrest. I did what I could to convince them otherwise, but I doubt they considered anything I said.

Congrats! And great photo.

Appreciate the updates everyone. we have a group of 12 heading up this Sunday morning on the 6/8...hoping that warm weather continues to melt those switchbacks.

After making it past those, I haven't seen any recent photos from there to the summit...that section pretty clear considering it's the other side and more exposed to the sun?

Hopefully we'll see some more trip reports from today and tomorrow that will be a good sign before we head out!

Tried to pick up a pair of microspikes at REI here in San Diego, they were sold out because it's not that season really now for them.

There are a couple of sketchy sections, but I'd imagine they'll clear up a bit by Sunday. Most everyone going through them did so without microspikes. I think I have some photos, just need to go through them all.




Thanks

I think I might go in from Onion on Monday (6/9) and come over from the backside to Whitney on Wednesday (6/11).

The weather is supposed to be 5-10 degrees above normal from Sunday until Thursday. With this kind of weather bringing out lots of weekenders, and the expected bulk of PCTers coming through the region, I'm guessing the north side of Forester, the JMT up from Guitar, and the switchbacks/chute will have well established boot tracks.

I did the this hike 2 years ago during the same first/second week period of June and it worked out fine. Like last time, I'll just have my micro-spikes & poles. My timing to hit the chute will be around 1pm, so it should be nice and slushy if the switchbacks are too sketch.

Still, with this weather and volume of foot traffic, I'd be surprised if the trail hasn't been cleared - especially with guys like Davey up there chipping away.

NWS http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.ph...00#.U5HolfldWSo

TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD...BUT WILL
INCREASE ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY...WHEN AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH IS IN
EFFECT FOR ELEVATIONS BELOW 4000 FEET IN THE MOJAVE DESERT.

We made the trip 6/4-6/5. No issues Portal to Trail Camp.
Switchbacks: we did not use microspikes or ice axes. We don't even use hiking poles.
Some snow on switchbacks which did make it tricky but totally doable. We never felt in danger even at the cables. However, the last switchback to Trail Crest was blocked so we had to take a small detour to the left.
Trail crest to summit: not much snow but a couple of areas where we had to cross snow patches.
A side note: as we were coming down by Outpost Camp it started to snow lightly and we heard thunder.
I'll post pictures later today.

I've been at the cables / switchbacks when they looked like this. It was very scary to be honest with you. I've never used micro spikes but did buy a pair of Yack Tracks which do not have spikes. Which is the better to use in conditions like the pictures? Thanks, these posts are very helpful!

Uhm... How do you post photos from my computer? I have some interesting ones but I am unable to figure it out...chalk it up to altitude after-effects

Go to "Picture Gallery", from the "Forums" tab. Toward the top of that page there is a link to instructions for uploading pictures to this site. After you have uploaded your pictures you can copy the link from the Picture Gallery into your post, and your pictures will magically appear. The aforementioned instructions assume the reader is suffering the lingering effects so oxygen deprivation, so are fairly detailed:-)

Ok, let me try. Here are some photos of the trickier parts.

I guess you can still click on the link. Too tired to try anything else. Hope it helps this weekend's climbers. Good night everyone!

06.04.14












Full gallery is located here:
http://www.hikinggeek.com/2014/06/07/mt-whitney-via-the-chute-trip-report-june-4-2014/

CaroMP - I fixed the links to display your photos. Thanks for posting them.