Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board winter mountineering

Hello All-

I'm planning a trip in early January to the sierras. I would like some advice on where would be a good spot to set up a basecamp from which there would be about 6 good day hikes/climbs. I'd like to keep the difficulty mainly 3-4 class but some easy 5th might be ok. Easy ice would be ok also. Any advice? Thanks-

Matt

Matt,

Before diving into suggestions on where you might go, I have to ask if you have any background in avalanche hazard assessment, and whether the people you plan to go with (or is this a solo adventure?) have similar training, and if all of you have avalanche beacons, probes, shovels, and know how to use them? If you're not solid there, this is just a bad idea.

BTW, unless it's a lousy snow year, you're not likely to find any ice to climb other than a few flows over exposed rock.

Everyone in the group (2) has avalanche training and all equipment needed. We have done several backcountry winter skiing trips in the rockies and the alps. I'm not really set on ice climbing. Early January just happens to be the time when our scheduals work out. Any sugustions would be appreciated. Thanks-

Matt

>Matt,

>Before diving into suggestions on where you might >go, I have to ask if you have any background in >avalanche hazard assessment, and whether the >people you plan to go with (or is this a solo >adventure?) have similar training, and if all of >you have avalanche beacons, probes, shovels, and >know how to use them? If you're not solid there, >this is just a bad idea.

>BTW, unless it's a lousy snow year, you're not >likely to find any ice to climb other than a few >flows over exposed rock.

I have a winter trip report from January 2001 shown under "Chucky" at summitpost.com. We called it Operation "Cannibal," though our preparation was excellent and we only ate the finest chow. We had 5 individuals teamed up in two tents for the effort. The powder snow was very powdery and snow shoes did not give us a significant advantage. We could not drive to the Portal so we spent the first camp at the portal in the hiker's campground. We spent he second night roughly 2/3 of the way to Outpost Camp. At that time we realized we would never make the summit with our time constraints. Our overnight low temperature was 12F at the Portal and 8F at Camp Two. The solitude was worth every step. We missed the Portal Store food and chatting with Doug, Arlene and Doug Jr. too. Electronics with Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) was almost useless in the cold. Another team came up a week after us and thanked us for breaking the trail but they did not make the summit either. If you are really ready for the above go for it as it was UNIQUE/GREAT but not as fun as other times of year.

I've got a couple of recommendations.

The Rock Creek area offers a short approach, and there are quite a few class 3/4 peaks (Bear Creek Spire, Mt. Abbott, Mt. Dade, etc.)

Out of the Bishop area, the Bishop Pass area also offers a reasonably short approach (maybe 3-5 miles, depending on road closure and how far in you try to go to set up your base camp) and there is lots to climb. You can also head up out of Sabrina (not sure how far they plow the road). Quite a bit longer approach (7 miles or more, depending on how far the road is open), but lots of interesting objectives out of a base in the Midnight (or was it Moonlight?) Lake area.