Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney Main Trail Conditions 2016 (Out-of-Date)

Hi folks, I'll be hiking Cottonwood Lakes to Whitney starting June 15th. Please post up the trail conditions when you get back.

a group of 4 of us are hiking from W Portal to Whitney on June 16 -17, camping at trailhead on 15th and basecamp on the 16th. Hope the conditions will be less snowy/icy and run into a few hikers!

Well the crampons are in the suitcase flying out to today for an early Monday attempt on the main trail.

Temps are soooo warm that I'm leaning heavily toward microspikes only. Actually more worried about mash potatoes than I am about ice...

If anyone summits Sat or Sun and has a chance to post a quick update on their necessity my son and I would appreciate it

Good luck and be safe to all heading up!

Looking forward to my annual Mount Whitney trip on June 23rd. Love to see any post on current trail conditions and photos. Hoping that the now warmer weather conditions will melt the show on the 99 and crest trail to the summit.

Robert

We succumbed to our nervous energy and went a day early.

Sitting at the portal store waiting for our burgers.

My 14 year old son and I made the summit leaving at 2:00 am, 9:15 at the top and portal at 4:15. Extremely proud of him!!

The chute was firm and pretty well booted and we left the crampons in the pack and went (actually all the way from trail camp to the summit) in our micro spikes. We used an ice axe up and down the chute.

It did get pretty soft as we were coming down around noon and we down climbed the very top (I actually had to self arrest once) before a combo of plunge stepping and glissading.

Fantastic day!! Thanks for all the info here and good luck to all those heading up.

Few edits:
I'd say spikes are for you if you have experience with an ice axe.

I saw some booting up the switchbacks but the going was very slow and looked no safer (maybe less?) than the chute

The backside has melted a lot from the Pictures of last week. Many were coming up from the PCT with micro spikes and poles and doing fine.

climbslc: Hooray for nervous energy!

Congratulations on the fantastic times. Please tell me: What do you and your son do to stay in shape?

Your report that you used microspikes is very helpful. People can be more comfortable using them now.

But please describe the situation where you needed to self-arrest with the ice axe. I assume it was glissading???

Thanks again for the report!

Thanks Steve. Sorry for not clarifying last night. We crashed

I wasn't comfortable letting him glissade the very top of the chute so we down climbed, me first kicking steps and him above me. The boot pack we came up had been over-slid by others and was soft/slick enough that I actually lost footing and had to arrest there.

Really easy to stop but just to illustrate to others that the Axe is the tool needed for the chute. My son had no problem coming down, glissading and arresting to stop a few times as well.

We saw several parties above the chute heading up as we were descending with no axes or crampons/spikes that must have managed somehow.

Weirdly, there was a solitary boot with a crampon still attached half way up the chute over near the rocks. Not sure what that was about. Anybody? Left over from one of those evacs last month?

My son and I are in Utah and we try to hike every weekend. For the last few months (with this trip in mind) we have concentrated on peaks with snow/ice which he had not had much experience, mostly in the Wasatch range with elevations in the 9-10K range.

The Memorial day weekend before Whitney we climbed Mt Peale (12,726) and Mt Waas (12,336) in the La Sal range near Moab, both of which has long frozen snow ascents and similar descents just to make sure we where ready.

I will add a few photos. Sorry there aren't more as I was trying to keep up with my kid!

Does anyone have an update on WMT conditions as of 6/6/16?

Bob T posted these pictures on FB today. From Saturday, June 4.
Note that the "chute" is the slope west of the 99 switchbacks that most people are taking between Trail Camp and Trail Crest.

"Snow above Trail Camp en route to the chute to get to Trail Crest."


"In the chute to get to Trail Crest."



"Intersection of the JMT to Guitar Lake and 1.9 miles to Whitney Summit trail."



"A short distance from Trail Crest."


(This picture take from the summit of Mt Muir. Look closely, you can see a nice switchback use trail in the chute area. ...click on picture for full-size.)
"Boot is pointing at the 99 switchbacks on the Whitney Trail (which are closed from snow). The chute to their right is the way up/down right now."

Wow Steve! do you thinks this show will burn off in the next few weeks?

Based on previous years info, in two or three weeks, most people will be using the switchbacks. Soon after, nobody will be using "the chute", as it will be too melted out, with postholing and rocks protruding.

...now I'll be watching to see if/when this prediction becomes true.

Based off the pictures I'm seeing, it looks like this can be done without mountaineering boots? I was planning on bringing my batura's, but it would be great to use my light hiking boots. Can anyone who has gone recently confirm this? Thanks!

Congratulations to everyone who was able to enjoy Mount Whitney this past week.

We had an incredible experience, and a successful summit. The weather was clear (stunning stars, but strong and unforgiving sun). Temperatures were in the 80s at the Portal and 60s at Trail Camp during the day; 30s at Trail Camp when the sun went down. We hiked up 6/4 to Trail Camp (started at 10:45 AM and got to Trail Camp at 3:15 PM), camped the night, and took the chute up the next morning (started at 3 AM and summited at 7:30 AM; the chute took 2.5 hours).

Training: I had run a marathon about a month ago, and hiked or ran every weekend leading up to this trip. This definitely helped me in the altitude. My husband, Conor, ran most days and we backpacked in the John Muir Wilderness the weekend before at about 9-10K feet. I wish we had more time to be in altitude, but we live at sea level and it’s hard to get to.

Altitude: Originally, we planned on doing this as a day hike on Sunday, but because we had time constraints (we had to be off of the trail by mid afternoon on Sunday), we changed our permit to overnight on Saturday. We got to the visitor's center lottery at 8 AM. We were really lucky that there was a cancellation right when we needed this overnight permit, but I think we would've gotten it anyway even if it meant we had to wait for the 11 AM lottery. The time at Trail Cramp to acclimate was worth carrying the weight for an overnight.

We both took Diamox (acetazolamide) 125 mg twice daily starting the day before and continuing until we descended. I think this really helped, and according to my research, studies show it’s 75% effective. We saw a few people suffer from altitude sickness, and it looked awful. We also drank a lot of water and ate things we know are appetizing to us. The altitude/sun/wind gave us both mild headaches and the breathing was tough, but that was the worst of it.

Equipment: We rented mountaineering boots, crampons, and ice axes from REI. We had bought microspikes, but returned them after reading some trip reports from May. I have relatively sturdy hiking boots (North Face Storm), and was able to use the crampons on them without using mountaineering boots. Conor has military desert boots, which don’t fit crampons and are not waterproof. Because it was a long ascent to Trail Camp where there was little snow, Conor did not want to do it in rented boots that he was not used to. So he carried the rented mountaineering boots, and used his regular hiking boots for the approach. It added weight to his pack, but he was able to deal with it (I probably wouldn’t have).

If doing the chute, the ice axes were a must because it is a lifeline. I’m not sure what people do without them to arrest a fall without one. The crampons were a nice on the chute, but not necessary. We saw several people with microspikes doing fine. There was a huge variety in the equipment people chose. Some people had everything – hiking poles, crampons, ice axes, and mountaineering boots. Others had just sneakers and nothing else. I even saw some people wearing crampons with trail running shoes.

Trail Conditions: The main trail was beautifully maintained, well-worn, and easy to follow up until Trail Camp. I did not see anyone attempt the switchbacks completely, and I think I saw someone fall from the cables. The chute had many boot tracks, and the stiff snow in the early morning made for a pretty easy ascent (all things considered). The trail after Trail Crest was a mixture of gravel, stones, and snow. We didn’t use our crampons and ice axes for this part, but opted for our hiking poles. Most of it was easy to get through, with the exception of one area where you had to go around rocks shortly after the intersection with the JMT. It was doable without more equipment than hiking poles, but required a lot of care. Microspikes would’ve been nice here because of the variety of trail conditions. Several people did this section fully with crampons, but it didn't look comfortable to be on solid rock with them. Heading from the summit back to Trail Crest, the snow remained firm for us with a few patches of ice, but I can see it getting sketchier with slushier/slippery conditions. The chute was the consistency of wet cement when we got there around 10 AM. We walked down to the less steep part where we felt more comfortable. We had never glissaded before, but the snow was slow enough that even I felt confident enough to try (I was really worried about it, and pretty sure I was going to walk down). It was very efficient and so much fun! The ice axe was key; I would not recommend glissading without an ice axe.

Pictures: My facebook album is open to the public. Search “Anusha McNamara” – I think I’m the only one out there ☺. Feel free to post them on here too.

Thank you so much for everyone contributing on this forum - it was very valuable information. Good luck to everyone with future permits, and enjoy this beautiful mountain!

Outstanding report, Anusha! Thanks, and congratulations!

Here are some of Anusa's pictures on FB:

At Trail Camp



Marmots have no fear (Miniature bears at Trail Camp)



Thank goodness for crampons and ice axes



West-facing Whitney crest



This was the worst part of the trail from Trail Crest to the Summit



Some rocks to go around - the worst part of this section



What we're in for heading down



View of trail camp - can you see our tent? Stealth mode

Seriously incredible stuff here and great report anusha and congrats to all the recent summits! My group is setting out this Sunday early AM for the day hike. I have mountaineering boots which i plan on wearing, and it looks like there is a variety of microspikes and crampons. Has anyone had any experience with renting crampons and an ice axe from Lone Pine Sporting goods or Elevation Sierra? I read so much about people saying not to do it and bad quality...

Also, any chance the switchbacks will be doable after another 6 days of warm weather? Thanks everyone!

The snow on the chute will be softer if you get there around 8 AM since the sun rises around 5:30 AM now. I'm not very experienced differences between microspikes and crampons in different conditions. The advantage microspikes would have is they seem good in varied terrain. But I wonder if crampons might be better in softer snow on the chute. You probably know better than I do!

Seriously awesome report, Anusha! Congrats! We had to have passed each other on the backside when you were going down and us up. You really captured the day well, both in pictures and descriptions.

We talked to some folks yesterday at our hotel (so second hand) that said Elevation only rents crampons and not ice axes. The people at Elevation were super helpful though so may want to call them to double check. Maybe REI?

We used flexible, light hiking boots (scarpa moraine and vasque Talus) that work fine with both universal crampons (Grivel air tech light) and microspikes.

Again, if you are experienced with an axe (and you should be) then I think microspikes are sufficient and are more suited to the backside where there is a mix of snow, dirt and rock. Crampons would of course be more solid in the chute, but given the boot pack we never put them on and just continued in microspikes.

We put spikes on at trail camp and left them on until we were back at trail camp again (after miles and miles in microspikes over rock and dirt we have not noticed undue wear in the spikes/chains. The rubber part will wear out first so we just tend to leave them on).

Keep in mind that conditions could be a bit different when you go depending on temperatures.

We day hiked the main trail yesterday (6/6). We left the portal at 2am, summitted at 9, and were back by 3pm. Here are the details most were asking about:

-switch backs still full of snow. Several people tried them, they all bailed for the chute.
-The chute requires crampons early in the day. Despite what NOAA says the trail is still freezing above 12,000 ft at night. We came across lots of recently frozen puddles on our hike in, and the snow was rock hard. The chute is relatively easy to get up when it's frozen if you have crampons. Later in the day when it turns to mashed potatoes you can probably get up with boots if you don't mind slipping every other step.
-After trail crest there is still snow and ice on the trail. After 9am it gets pretty slick.
-Glissading in the afternoon is easy and fun!
-Don't glissade all the way to the bottom of the chute. It's very hard to find the trail and you may end up on a rock scramble for 40 min that makes your hiking partner mad at you. Pick out your end point from the top!

My advice is to get to the chute at dawn and use crampons to get up. Then glissade down after the sun has softened the snow. Do NOT attempt to glissade if a shadow is on the chute.

Conditions are great, have fun everybody!

This was posted on Instagram by csgarcia93
It's the first picture we have this year at the cables on the switchbacks.

Her caption:
"I laugh that this photo was taken just before almost falling off the side of the trail and ending up waist deep in melting snow holding onto those ropes for safety. I'm happy to say that the trail conditions determined whether I made it to the top or not, not my lack of preparedness or conditioning. This weekend was an overall amazing experience. Mt. Whitney I'll be back for you."

Yes, you can use regular hiking boots, I managed well in my Merrel Moab+crampons but I did run into few people who managed even in (trail?) running shoes (not recommended at all). A lot of PCT'ers showed in microspikes but then they weren't doing the chute (though plenty managed chutes on microspikes)
Just aim to get done before sunrise when snow is still frosty.

I glissaded down the chute about 1:30pm, pretty much mashed potato. Could come to stop digging my heals in and using ice-ax bar to control speed, left with a sore/numb right arm. Took a lot of strength to get any control (worth all the hours saved )