Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Current Conditions

Hey Everyone.. I'm curious about the current snow conditions on Whitney. I'm scheduled to climb on May 27th via the Whitney trail. Have the switchbacks been snow covered lately? I'll have my crampons of course but based on the current conditions, what's the recommended footwear for the Whitney trail? Snow boots? Trail runners? etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! -Andrew

I climbed up on the 16th and the switchbacks are mostly clear even after the snowfall the night before. I had my micro spikes on for most of the switchbacks mainly due to the new snow. There’s a couple of sections towards the end we’re they were really helpful but in a few weeks I think most of the snow will be gone. Crampons are overkill and wouldn’t be helpful. I used trail runners and it worked fine!

Thanks for the update!

Heading up Saturday morning … overnight at Trail Camp and summit Sunday morning.

Will try send an update when I return Sunday PM.

It’s going to be cold up there this weekend!!

We are headed up for a Monday Day hike so any update on Sunday would be great!

Thank you so much! I plan to post an update on Tuesday.

I was up in the Iceberg Lake area yesterday. After the most recent snowfall, the Mountaineers Route seemed snow covered the whole way. At the Portal, I met a group of hikers coming down from the Mount Whitney trail. They reported that the switchbacks were snow-covered and challenging to navigate with crampons being very useful. Things are melting quickly though so conditions may change by your trip on 5/27.