Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Lone Pine Peak in mid-April

Some of us are planning to attempt Lone Pine Peak in a couple of weeks, as a two-day trip. Does anyone have any recent photos or information about current conditions in the Meysan Lakes area? Thanks.

I've got photos and info of the routes (the North Ridge, if you're climbing, and the North Chute if you're clamping) along with the basin in conditions that will be very similar (same times of year and snow depths, judging from the coverage on the webcam right now, and what they'll most likely be like in a couple of weeks), but as to current conditions I have no idea. Probably better if someone else chimes in.

Thanks, Jeff. We will be taking what is the Class 2 route in the summer. The plan is to camp at around 9500 feet on the first day, and then head for the summit on the second day (with snowshoes, crampons, ice axe, etc).

With the warm-up through the next couple of weeks, I think your main issue will be finding a comfy, non-swampy camp spot. A lot of people camp just off the trail (sometimes directly on) on the first bench here: 36.569037, -118.235246 which is at 10k', but depending on how many in your group, the rockless & dry pickin's may be slim. (There's not much convenient or flat camping below this, unless you're on one of the never-monotonous switchbacks lower down, though obviously, there are rules about that sort of thing.)

The "usual" campsites around Grass Lake (36.561957, -118.240833) will have the same swamp problem, with the bonus of larger snow patches, but you should be able to find a dry spot on a southern-facing area of the knoll.

If your plan is to camp on snow, pick a spot between here and the middle of the basin between Grass Lake and the start of the chute. Not too close to the chute; the noticeable dirty slides will explain why. The chute is fairly trivial (unless you've never used an axe), and the very large cairn at the top will guide you on the way back. If it were me, and I was getting an early start on summit day, I would leave the snowshoes in the car. I'll try to post some pics later.

Thanks for the suggestions, Jeff. Snowfall is way above normal this year, so we are planning to camp on the snow. According to NWS, there is also a chance of snow on five of the next six days.

Yep, snowfall is way above normal north of the jetstream split (which was just north of Split Mtn. funny enough). Portal was what a "normal" year used to be, according to the guy who went up there that one time but still hasn't climbed the mountain. I'll wager a dollar that any precip in the next 10 days is mostly rain if it clears the crest and the kind of dusting you get on a jelly donut.

Also, I forgot to add earlier, if you're in any kind of decent shape, it's a short trip. I would pitch camp then hike up to Meysan Lake and/or Candlelight in the afternoon (if you're camped near Grass Lake) or take the sand chute (1/4 sand, 3/4 snow now) up to Candlelight if you're at the lower camp. Or bring a good book. Either way, it will be a great trip for sure.

and if you would like to make the class 2 route more exciting just forget to come down by way of the "Big Cairn", you should get cliffed out a bunch of times and find yourself crying mommy. Not that I would know anything about that !

Lone Pine Peak in the snow is a fun climb with awesome views of the Whitney area and Langley area on the other side, the Valley below. A nice snow chute climb. And April will be much more snow than the June climb in the link below. That was fun on the snow but hot.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100492563@N07/albums/72157681674218004

James,

Looks like you had an awesome outing. Thanks for sharing.

Jim

Thanks for the photos, JamesL. The steepest part of the route is a scree slope in the summer, so we would rather climb it when it's covered with snow. According to the gear store in Lone Pine, snowfall this year has been about 150% compared with a normal year.