Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney Main Trail Conditions 2016 (Out-of-Date)

Anyone 30 or younger (I am 22) want to go up this weekend? Or Monday/Tuesday?

Experienced hiker. Summitted Whitney in summer 1 day, and trail crest another time at which point we turned around because of storm clouds and winds.

Have all the cold weather gear.

Have ice axe and campons, inexperienced with them but learn fast.

I usually leave the car at 12:30AM. Athletic and hike fast swtichbacks by 6:30/7am.

Would show up before 2PM tomorrow to get raffle permit. Coming from LA. I can rent you free crampons at Arcadia if you need them.

Adventurer, FYI:

Walk-in requests for permits can usually get a free permit. But due to road construction this year, people also need a parking pass to park in the lots at Whitney Portal. That is because overflow parking along the roadway is not allowed this summer.

Unfortunately, walk-in permitees will not be given a parking pass. Only those with a permit reservation will get a pass, and only one car per hiking party.

Adventurer 4565 - -- I am going up on Tues the 21st --- I sent you a PM with info.

We were a team of 4 doing an overnight hike on 6/16 and 6/17. We camped at the Portal campground on 6/15. Weather was great at the Whitney Portal but the basecamp was windy and cold! We started hiking up to the basecamp around 10:30 am, had lunch at Lone Pine Lake and arrived at the basecamp around 7 pm. The trail is beautiful. No issues with snow or ice although there were a few spots on the trail that's covered. We didn't need any spikes. The hiking poles helped.
A small group of 20 tents were at the base camp. No issues with finding a comfortable camp spot. Lots of marmots waiting to steal your goodies! I would suggest finding a good spot early on that's sheltered from the wind. It was super windy in the evening.
On 6/17, we began our hike up the switchbacks around 7 a.m. I would say 50% of the hikers took the switchbacks and the remainder took the chute. I saw a few people gave the chute a try and changed their minds. The switchbacks are now doable and open. The lower switchbacks have spots that were iced over. Most of the trail were wet from the snow melt. The upper switchbacks after the cables were slightly snow covered. One section of the switchback right after the cables was tricky but not impossible. I would suggest poles and spikes at a minimum. No crampons required. The cables: there are 3 poles where snow completely covered the trail. So, we had to go on the outside of the cables to get around. Just be careful as it's manageable with microspikes and poles. Hang on to the cables! :P The last switchback section to the trail crest was covered with snow! We had to scramble up the rocks to get to the trail crest sign area. I suspect with the warm weather, it should be better in that section. (by the way, try to remember how you get to the trail crest - very easy to forget the way you came up to the crest over the rocks.)
From trail crest to the summit, the trail was fine with some patches of snow and ice. I wore the spikes the entire time. I stopped short of the snow slope leading to the nut but one of my group made it to the hut He had to use spikes and ice axe as that section was still covered in snow. We summited around 1 p.m. On the way down, I saw quite a few people taking the chute down. They were being very careful as rocks were exposed in quite a few places. I took the switchbacks down. In the afternoon, snow was soft and the area around the cables was a little tricky to get across - again doable with spikes and poles.

There were lots of places with running water on the trail - the group got water at the basecamp and also at trailside meadow. With the snow melting fast, some of the water crossings (e.g. the first one on the trail) were tricky. Be prepared to get your boots wet! Be sure they are waterproof.

The altitude was rough.. the two of us that summited really felt it at 14K. But we did okay - just minor headache and short of breath. I saw a few people getting sick on the switchbacks and they turned back. Just take it easy and give yourself plenty of time to do the hike at an easy pace. It was a beautiful few days up on the mountain! Be safe and enjoy!

I made it to the summit yesterday, 6/19 around 12:30 PM. I took the switchbacks up and down.

From my experience and talking to a bunch of other people on the trail, I think there are two things that will affect whether you want to use microspikes or crampons: your timing with respect to the temperature and your comfort level/risk tolerance.

Timing/temperature: Since it's still freezing up there at night, but there's a lot of snowmelt and water on the switchbacks during the day, if you start up from trail camp too early, there will be sections of the switchbacks that are a bit icy. I met a few people who had headed up early from trail camp and turned around because of the ice, even with microspikes. I started up from trail camp around 8/8:30 and the ice was starting to break up at that point. Obviously, if you summit too late, you would also have to worry about refreeze at some point. All of the ice was melted and the snow was soft when I was on my way down the switchbacks around 3.

Comfort level/risk tolerance: If the snow is soft and the ice is melted, I think there are still three sections that might seem scary depending on your personal risk tolerance and comfort level. First, as mentioned above, there is a section of about 10 feet where you have to duck outside the cables because of the snow. There's still a lot of snow there. Second, the top of the switchbacks over to trail crest are still covered in snow, which means that you have to cross the chute on snow. Third, there's a stretch of three patches of snow between rocks just before the summit; these are mostly flat, but there is a little bit of elevation change in the middle one. Personally, I put on microspikes only for the stretch across the chute because I thought it would be a pretty dangerous place to fall, but I am also very comfortable on snow and rock in general. I also saw people who wore spikes or crampons the entire way from the cables to the summit (they walked in a lot of dirt with them, though).

Thanks to all for your reports leading up to yesterday; they were super helpful!

Thanks for the detailed report!!

After reading these recent trip reports, our first-time group of five has decided to cancel our trip due to snow and ice still lingering on the trail. We have an overnight permit for June 28 & 29 which I will cancel today. Hopefully, someone ready to go can take advantage of the availability.

Although there seems to be lingering snow and ice currently, I feel like most of it would be melted due to the heatwave we've been having and should be somewhat doable by next week? Maybe just me though....

LoisW, throughout all the next week, weather is running a heat wave. Whitney summit LOWS are in the mid-40s, with highs in the upper 50s. There will be almost no difficulties encountered by your trip dates.


Everyone: We REALLY need new pictures of the trail conditions! If you go, and can snap off some pictures, send them my way -- email me (view my profile, or just email them to the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of every page here.
Particular spots:
+ Above Trail Camp, first snow on the trail
+ At the cables, looking up, and then looking back.
+ At the top switchback where people have trouble crossing the snow at the top of the chute.
+ Any even slightly difficult spots between Trail Camp and the summit.

Thank you all for posting updates that I have been carefully reading.

Recent pictures will be a great help! A bunch of us will be camping at Trail Camp Saturday (6/25) evening and attempting summit Sunday morning.

We have a few inexperienced first timers and also a 7 year old in the group. Latest pictures will definitely help especially to decide whether 7 year old should attempt given that it is difficult to find microspikes or crampons to fit her boot size.

Hello fellow mountaineers!

Because this blog helped so much for my own preparation of Whitney, which I summited this past Saturday (06/18), I wanted to share my experience.

We started the hike around 4 am from the trailhead and summited at 2 pm.

People here is the thing-- I scared myself shitless prior to beginning this hike because everybody was saying that I needed to be able to run 5 miles a day and hike up 3 peaks per week to get prepared. I hadn't done any of that. I live in Salt Lake City so I have the elevation advantage, I spent the winter snowboarding, and have done an average of 1 hike/ week the couple of months leading up to Whitney. I also did the Whole30 prior to it which I think really helped with the energy levels throughout the hike. BUT my point here is, you do NOT have to be in superman shape to get up this mountain, you just have to be in good shape both physically and mentally. Superman shape will definitely help you get up faster, but I made it in 10 hours which isn't too shabby.

Moving onto the conditions which have also seemed to be scaring people from doing this hike.. There were only TWO spots where things were a bit intense. I say a bit because we had the proper equipment (crampons/microspikes and ice axes) and because there were people around willing to help and be supportive. The first spot was the cables where you had to hold onto the cable and walk like 20 feet to the other side of a frozen waterfall. My boyfriend and I made friends with a married couple who had microspikes but not ice-picks, and well, they summited with us so I think most of it really comes down to fear and not having crampons or microspikes. The second spot was at the end of the switchbacks where the trail was completely covered in snow and had a straight up vertical drop off to the side. I don't have a fear of heights, so this didn't bother me too much, my boyfriend was a bit shakey because he does fear heights, but our entire group of 4 made it across. We are all still alive and well. I think the most important thing to have had were the crampons/microspikes which you can rent from REI if you do not have any. The married couple who hiked with us just used a trekking pole in cases where we were using the ice axe.

On the way up we asked several people what challenges were coming and everybody had mixed reviews. There were people with crampons who said the ice waterfall at the cables was too intense for them, there were people who said there was nothing bad, there were people who said you needed super hardcore equipment to get past it... It really comes down to a matter of judgement and what you think you can do. That is why I suggest just getting to that point and deciding or yourself, don't let the words of others decide for you because you could be missing out on one of the most rewarding experiences of your life.

There were also some patches of ice here and there on the early switchbacks, but they could easily be avoided , and by the time we had started our descent, all of that ice had melted.

The weather itself wasn't too bad... except for the random gusts of 30 mph wind 12k and above; my face is still recovering from wind burn...but that really just depends on the day that you do it and how lucky you get with the forecast. At trail camp I stopped to put on extra layers since I began seeing more snow, but had to stop to remove shortly afterwards because, well, you're working your butt off getting up that dang mountain!

The worst part, which was more awful than those two 'challenging' spots would have to be the last 2 miles. Boy did we get excited when we saw the 1.9 miles left to summit sign, we even have a video of all of us dancing in front of it.. boy were we idiots to celebrate that early. By the last mile it was a game of.. "Okay let's make it to that pointy rock up there" then we would make it and stop to breath for 30 seconds, then start again to the next goal. Take your time, everybody feels the altitude and everybody needs to take care of their body during those last 2 miles.

If you are prepping to do this trek.. Know that there are not just 99 switchbacks, the whole entire fricken hike is switchbacks, and it is on the way back down that you really start to notice them all and curse them while you make your way back to the car.

Yes, this hike was brutal- it was one of the most challenging things I have ever done but I attest that mostly to the last 2 miles and if you can get to that point, you can do it. Obviously don't push yourself to do anything you aren't comfortable with but don't psych yourself out before even trying, there is no shame in turning back if the going gets rough.

Of the 100 permits issued the day I went, 20 summited. Most people we saw coming back down didn't have crampons though we did see people make it up who didn't even have those, though I would not have been comfortable doing the hike without them. Again, all up to your own judgement.

And here are some photos:
https://goo.gl/photos/gsMZQEqenHqU2gpk8

I also want to add- we made sure to take altitude pills and started taking them a few days prior to the hike so our bodies would get accustomed which I think helped a lot with the altitude. Aside from deep breaths and needing to stop multiple times at the higher elevation, we didn't feel any other altitude effects such as headaches or nausea so I definitely recommend doing that.

And we also didn't see a single person using the chute up or down. Though we heard just about everybody took it down the day before we summited but the windy conditions the day we hiked made the chute pretty icy.

I hiked with a group of 10 back on Friday 6/17. As of that time things were melting very fast. If you are planning to hike going forward I doubt you will run into tough spots to the degree that we did late last week. As others have mentioned there were only two spots on the switchbacks that were of any concern. One was around the top of the cables where we had to cross to the outside while hanging onto the cables them jump across and onto a very ice covered spot. We actually chopped up most of the ice there for later hikers that morning to make it a bit easier/safer. At the top of the switchbacks there was that remaining snow covered area that some kind of foot traction would have made easier. The chute has melted to the degree that it has become less viable as a way up/down. I saw people hiking without any extra traction even at that time although I would certainly not have recommended it at the time. By now however, you should be fine.

I think by 6/25, a lot of snow would have melted away. There are two sketchy spots on the switchbacks when we hiked on 6/17 - the cables section and right below the trail crest. We only used microspikes and there were people without them then. Both should be manageable by next weekend.
Hope the link works for some of my photos on FB from the hike on 6/17:
https://www.facebook.com/luis.tam.14/med...amp;pnref=story

If not, let me know and I will see if I can load them on flickr.

Good pictures, Luisito. Posting several here for people to see:

The trail above Trail Camp


At the cables



Nicole, thanks for the full report. Appreciate your comments regarding conditioning and people's fear/comfort levels.
Here's your picture from the top of the chute area, just before Trail Crest. It looks pretty "hairy"!!
...Now I see from other pictures that your camera has a wide-angle lens, which makes steep slopes look much worse. People should understand... it really isn't quite that steep there.

Thanks for the photos (especially the cables) and the trip report. What were conditions like on the back side? I didn't see summit photos in your photo gallery.

There are going to be three of us with the same itinerary as you. Two of us attempted it last year in a day and had to turn back. The third will be a first timer. We are going to be hanging out at the portal all day Friday! Hope to see you there!

btfleming4, We are staying in Lone Pine Friday night but hope to see you on the trail!

Great pictures Luisito!

From your and other people's pictures I now have a much better idea of what to expect on switchbacks.

Were there any tough spots in terms of ice and snow between trail crest and the summit?

How far up the switchbacks or beyond is there running water near the trail during the day that can be treated? In years' past someone will post where on the way up they encounter a water-source in the switchbacks or above as the snow melts until the streams from snowmelt run dry in late July or August.

The 7-day weather forecast for the summit shows highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s so there should be lots of melting this week. :-)