Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Portal Road

Good morning. I have an overnight permit to hike Mt. Whitney starting Friday, 8/18. The latest weather looks like the outer bands of tropical storm Hillary will hit the area late in the evening of Saturday, 8/19 (certainly could change, of course).

I'm planning on a mid-morning cutoff to reach the summit on Saturday before heading down to the Portal.

Was hoping to get the forum's thoughts on when Inyo County may close the Whitney Portal road. Traditionally, are they proactive and close the road in advance of a storm, or do they wait until the effects of the storm are impacting the area? I'm travelling from out of town and am just trying to get a sense of whether I'll be able to attempt this hike or not.

Thanks in advance!

I had a trip leaving Horseshow Meadows through Cottonwood Pass up to Whitney starting on Sunday. We canceled and are going to Zion instead. Total bummer.

Don't get caught in that mess.

On the topic of the Portal road 35 years we have had very few times the road closed from the Portal and the closure was after the storm cause rock across the road , cleared in a few hours. I would worry more where you fly into , Death Valley roads wash out often . Rain can be miles away and the water seeks it's course the river bottoms where the road bed is.

I watch the sky more the the weather reports for moisture we have no radar coverage in this area so the forecast are from models , temps and wind seem to be close .Moisture is a wild card , which valley the system comes in west we get little moisture if up the east side depends which canyon the system stalls in.
Go Noaa.gov weather and look out 2000 miles west, this will give you a view of the moisture and direction of travel .

OMG I just read Zion check the forcast for Vegas area and surrounding areas,so let's see lived in Barstow,Baker Vegas ,Boulder City ,Mesquite,Saint George,Cedar City,Fillmore, Milford ,Panaca,Caliente and worked in those locations for 27 years year round ,talk about floods. Lightning and closed roads .Research the Narrows for floods,

Thanks for the feedback, Doug. Really appreciate your past experiences and feedback!

We’re flying back out from LAX, so hopefully 395 is better able to handle the rain than the Death Valley roads.