Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Snow on the mountain in May?

Hi guys,
I'm scheduled to take on the Mountaineer's route for the first time on May 26th of this year, after a previous successful summit last year via the main trail. I am trying to get a feel for what the conditions might be like, to decide what gear to bring and whether or not I should anticipate and practice for cramponing/snow climbing. I've been trying to follow the conditions on the mountain a little bit by reading posts on this forum and it sounds like the snowfall has been fairly light this year. Last year there was still enough snow that switchbacks were snowed over and we had to climb the chute and I understand this is not typical, so I know it can be variable. Would anyone care to hazard a guess as to whether I should expect snow to still be on the mountain in May?
-Chris

In a word: yes.

A bit of a retrospective over the past 5 years:

MR May 12, 2007

MR April 26, 2008

MR May 18, 2008

MR May 31, 2008

Main Trail 6-5-10

Low snow this year (so far) has led to a large amount of exposed ice. Proceed with caution, best of luck.

-L