Yeah, I had a similar question to Marmot John. I was surprised that the cable section wasn't on your list of differences from normal summer conditions. If I had to guess from my past experience, that would be the spot I was most worried about.

I know the weather is always a wild card this time of year, especially in the afternoon. Will watch that closely and try to manage as early a start as possible.

Good luck to everyone planning for hikes in the coming days.

Marmot John,

If you follow the Main Trail, no snow bridges will be encountered.

The area you are always most uncomfortable about above the meadow is likely the steep snow patch one crosses currently hovering above the west end of Trailside Meadow (which I mention in my recent post today). It bothered me too, and it was the only place I put my micro spikes on during the Aug 6 hike. The snow there was rock solid on the ascent and slushy and slippery on the descent. The runout looked nasty. I would guess it will be a non-issue when you descend in two weeks.

On August 6, passing by the Cables predominantly involved walking on a well-designed dry rock path inside the cables. But future snowfall and water seeping from the wall and melting snow turning to ice at night can be game changers. Also I noted a small recent partial collapse (exfoliation?) of the wall at the beginning of Cable passage on ascent. Hopefully, the area remains stable.

BTW, from the west the Trail up from Crabtree looked great! I hope to be coming up that way myself soon.

Jim

So the afternoon thunderstorm got here last night , we have had drops today but very little , cold for this time of the summer 52 this am and 60 right now so upper elevation could see black ice overnight.
Trail condition are down to one short snow section and most are saying no problem. But history says some will not like even this short section!

I'm looking for any beta from climbers who went up over the weekend. Especially information on the condition of the switchbacks Good to go without traction devices and an ice axe?
Thanks!!

As time goes on, in regards to our overnight climb Tuesday & Wednesday, it's going to be more about what the storm brings on Sunday & Monday than what conditions were like last weekend!

Hi, can someone post info on what the trail conditions on Whitney (main trail) are like following the storm next week which is supposed to bring in more snow? How are the switchbacks and snow crossings? Are crampons needed or microspikes sufficient?

Thanks,
Janet

Snow the third week of August is a normal event, light amount and will not stick for long , the rock and ground at the lower elevation helps , But we have had snow coming off the trees often that people don't wait for the drop before starting the hike. this is often several hours after sun up and the trees shed the snow. Ok so you can trick the tree snow but then you will need to deal with the black ice, cold and dark.

This system for me is a wait till it hits land , we watch the path and the amount of rain hundreds of miles away ,we are often missed by storms or get very little but the storms that have caused the most damage in our canyon had no warnings.
The mall wear gear will not keep you dry,trail runners and shorts season if ever a season is over our nights will get colder and the day light less so at some point you will be hiking in the dark . My choice is start the hike in the light turn around if a storm moves in and you know that slow person you left behind bring them down with you. Lastly get the car keys !!!

Very interested to see what this storm brings for Whitney. Lone Pine is currently forecasted to be directly hit by the remnants of the hurricane, and Mountain Forecast has the freezing and could see 4+ inches of precip, and Mountain Forecast has the freezing level at 14-15k feet during the storm. If it's a direct hit and freezing levels are low enough, we could see feet of snow near the summit.

Yes I'm also very curiuos to see how much the summit actually recieved.

There was much disagreement between NOAA and Mountain Forecast, with MF showing as much as 14-18" on Sunday night at 14k, but NOAA forecasted all rain.

I suspect the snowline was very high and that the accumulation was sharply different between 12k and 14.5k. Curious to know if the summit actually had a foot or more, or if it was all slush.

Hi, I actually want to hike Whitney very soon despite the recent storm/snow. My husband is concerned about avalanche risk due to the new snowfall.

Can someone shed light on this as well?

When the weather clears you should get an idea from the various webcams, at ~11,000 feet mammoth did not get snow. Nothing like live data from the mountain though.
https://www.climbingweather.com/area/1070/detail/USA/California/Mt.-Whitney-%7C-Iceberg-Lake
https://www.gbuapcd.org/cgi-bin/cameraVi...n&Coso+South=on

https://www.mammothmountain.com/on-the-mountain/mammoth-webcam

I'm going to go with the theory of not much impactful snow falling in this event. I just saw a couple videos of the Whitney Portal parking lot and there's an absolutely insane amount of water flowing down right now, which gives me hope that what happened up there is in mostly liquid form and is going to come down immediately. Hopefully the snow that did fall is going to be the powdery stuff that melts fast. I saw a new trip report of a few hikers that just exited at Kearsarge and just reported hail, I don't recall any mention of snow, so hopefully we are good at least up to 12,000 feet.

A quick update the big picture 395
Closed from Ridgecrest to Bishop
Runoff still strong so stream crossing will be deep and wide.
No one came down today and could cover so we can't get a view of the mountain.
I hear it is clearing. What would that mean,if you are not prepared for these conditions....
Campgrounds are closed,road to the Portal is open but sections of mud,recall 395 closed.We will get rock fall on the road as the ground dries out.
The county road crews are working on the roads so watch for equipment .Horseshoe Meadow Road Closed
Check caltrans for State roads and Inyo County road up dates.

395 just opened!

Glad to hear that Doug!

Clouds are just starting to clear on the webcam and it's pretty much confirmed - no significant new snowfall at the summit. The MR Couloir looks like old snow to me.

Just trying to calibrate my trust in Mountain Forecast. They were calling for 14+ inches on Sunday at 14k which clearly was off a bit. Not cold enough. Would have been epic if it was a month or two later perhaps.

Overall, good news for the late season permit holders. Best of luck with the roads Doug et. al.!

On the weather topic ,read I think it was a Kurt Vonnegut book when he writes about the Mafia doing a fix on a chemical plant was dumping waste into a river after all the millions of work if you looked close you could still see the pipe dumping the waste into the river,
Noaa Weather 7 day forecast close on temps and wind I would never trust a weather report to pack the gear for a trip. My rule is expect the very worst... in the dark and a whiteout on the way out, never venture out without the core gear to keep yourself alive.

Now fresh snow showing on the top of the switchback area and the NF chute is covered to the notch most likely this new snow will clear quickly. Crampons work very well on hard packed snow and ice , this snow is not hard and not packed, mountaineering boots work well in these conditions. Hillsound type cleats may help , most often hikers don't adjust the pace to match the conditions , a short step gives more control on the surface than a long stride, coming down is often the problem area , poles will aide in reducing the downward pressure .

The streams are still running high but got word the logs are back in place and avoid the first (3) water crossing now 3 because the small drainage has jumed the bank near the trailhead then the Carillion creek third the North Fork proper.

I was up Tuesday/Wednesday, 22nd/23rd and the CCC crews were hard at work. I cannot express my gratitude enough for the work that they do, especially getting the logs back in place basically the day after the storm. And they had to get into the creek to do that. A very high creek.
On Tuesday, using creativity in some instances, I was able to make it to Trail Camp with dry feet (and back down again on Wed). The new snow is absolutely no problem now on the Main Trail and I was able to cross the few remaining snowfield without spikes, although a couple in our group opted for the security that they offer. The Mountaineer's Route may be another story. I looked down the Final 400 and it's very steep, all snow. It appears that snow has loaded up at the top, making the final section very close to vertical. I spoke to a guy who climbed the East Buttress, one of 4 groups that he was with to do so. The looked down the Final 400 and opted to take the Main Trail down and return to Iceberg Lake the next day to retrieve their camp! The weather forecast ahead looks great, but as Doug says "prepare for the worst". I predict lots of summits for the foreseeable future!
Gary

I would not be surprised if a foot of snow fell on Sunday and melted/blew/was rained away quickly. I went up Muir on Wednesday and there was easily 5 to 7 inches left in protected places on the slope up to the rock climb.

On the subject of storms and trail conditions, I saw a picture of the Whitney Portal Road after the Hilary TS rolled through. Some 100 feet of road was badly torn up by the expected flash flood through the lower canyon. Has the road been repaired? Or is vehicle access to the Portal via Lubken Canyon Rd the way to go?

There is still a Detour in place...

Looks like there are 2 different routes...Lubken and thru the Alabama Hills.

BTW, Hillary didn't do much damage up at Horseshow Meadows. I did the Trail Pass / Cottonwood Pass Loop again and didn't encounter anything but (real) minor rutting on the PCT and the trails up and down...