Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Wind on Whitney June 7-9, 2004

This was my sixth attempt of Mt. Whitney; I have gone solo and in groups. Two years ago I lead a group of 16 people (half the group had as much or more experience than I did, but were new to this mountain). I have always attempted the main trail and encouraged people to spend two nights at Trail Camp. That was the plan for this trip. As it turned out, I had three others that joined me for this trip, one had hiked with me before and two that were new to the mountain. Everyone arrived early at the Portal to acclimatize to the elevation (all were all from sea level).

Monday, June 7th 2004, was the start of the adventure. The weather report from the owner of the Portal Store was; it had been nice and warm. However; the wind looked like it was picking up. I laughed and said that was a safe bet for the High Sierras. On my second climb the wind picked up on the day of my assent and caused me to wonder if my 20 year old dome tent (maybe a two season tent) would survive the night. My original tent did make it through in one piece, but I went out and bought a four season tent for trips like Mt. Whitney.

The hike to Trail Camp was nice un-eventful (the way I like it when I am leading a group). I took lots of break keeping the group together and enjoying the breathtaking views that Sierra Nevada Mountains offer in rich supply.

When the group arrived at Trail Camp, it was about as I expected lots of snow and few places to camp, my favorite camp sites were under, three to six feet of snow. No problem I found acceptable sites and went about the chores of setting up camp. However; the gusts of wind were bothersome. I angled my tent so that the narrow end was headed into the wind, to minimize the impact. Other than the wind blowing out my stove when I cooked dinner I was not really affected by it. I just settled in for a long windy night. The wind seemed to blow from all sides, it did not seem to matter what angle I place the tent at. Needles to say I did not sleep very well.

In the morning the wind seemed to die down, I was hoping that was the case. However; I place a number of rocks in my tent to keep it from blowing away.

The hike; June 8, 2004, I have seen the switch backs with more snow on them but never in the condition they were in this past Tuesday. The trail was covered with ice from all the melting snow. It seamed I was chipping ice off rocks from the very start. Before we reached the cables, a second member of my group turned back, (one decided not to start). The Cables were covered in snow, the worst I have seen it. I have help people get past the cables in the past but, this time I had to walk outside the cables and scale a five foot rock wall to get back on trail. From there it was almost normal with a little more snow that usual.

The final snow field to Trail Crest: there was so much snow in this snow field, the trail did not exist as it had before. It looked like most people climbed up to the ridge and over the snow field. However; in true High Sierra fashion, the winds were strong once you got to the top of the ridge. All along the back side I was pelted with wind. I could feel it drain the energy out of me; all I wanted to do was get away from it.

The Top of Mt. Whitney: There were no parties at the top, as there have been in the past. It seemed that everyone wanted the same things; sign the book, take a photo, and get off the mountain. It was no different for my group (the two of us). I made my way back the Trail Crest and prepared to glissade down. My co-hiker who had practiced glissading in a winter camping class, was overwhelmed by the chute. Once I calmed her fears and got her down the chute, she was ready to go up and do it again.

Back at Trail Camp, the others wanted pack up and leave. Out of the two tents one had been damaged by the wind during the day. I rested for 10 to 15 minutes, the wind practically collapsed my tent on top of me, and so I decided to return to the cars. It was estimated that the wind was gusting to 40 or 50 mph. The wind was so strong it almost blew me off the trail as I hiked away from Trail Camp. I used my ice ax to stabilize myself. I might have to invest in a pair of trekking polls (I have not used them in the past, because I do not like having things in my hands when I am hiking). At Out Post camp the wind was still gusting strongly, but the trees had damped it bit.

I lost the sight of dusk about Lone Pine lake, hiking with head lamps I came across a three hikers, one of which had become snow blind. One of the members of my group had a cell phone. They tried calling 911, with little to no success. Once back in town one of my co-hiker called the Forest Service at about 11:00PM, they said that they would dispatch a search and rescue team.

This morning looking at the mountain from Lone Pine, it looked socked in, with clouds hovering around the mountain.

Lessons Learned from this trip:

Respect the mountain; do not joke about wind, as I did. I have been up there when it has been windy but nothing like yesterday.

Always prepare for the worst, I have had too many easy trips, with good weather, that I left my winter parka in the car, I was betting on a warm weather.

It you take a cell phone: One) Pre-program the emergency numbers you might need. Two) you might get a hand generator incase you run out of battery power, ( I have heard that they exist).

Excellent trip report my friend...

Tell me more about the ice and exposure on the switchbacks.

From the looks of the recent reports, it seems that an ice axe is certainly the safe bet for the next few weeks at least to safely negociate those tricky bits...yes???
How about crampons or insteps???

We are heading up next weekend and so the info. is greatly appreciated for choosing what gear to bring.

Looks like you guys got smacked right in the face by a pretty wicked cold front that came through on TUES.
Good job with the climb and thanks again for the detailed report.

Cheers..........

MBF,

I appreciate your detailed trip report.I'm going up tomorrow for my first time and sounds like the switchbacks are about as far as I'm going.No crampons,ice axe,or enough experience on this trail for me to make it to the top.Atleast I'll get a good workout and some trail experience for when I try it again next month.You all won't be reading about me in the bottom of some ravine.Take care and happy climbing.

To Hello Icculu2003, and Fish 395;

Condition of the Switch Backs on June 8th.

The Switch Backs were 0nly about 50 percent covered with snow; I have hiked them when they were 70% covered. I think what made them so challenging this time was; there was a lot of snow before the cables. With a lot of snow early in the hike from Trail Camp, you would have a lot of run off during the day and that lead to a lot of ice on the trail first thing in the morning. I started off with two companions Tuesday morning; both had never hiked Whitney or anything that challenging. My co-hikers were tentative and slow. That is probably why I was spending so much time chipping the ice off the rocks, on the trail. In the early part I cut the switch backs to avoid the snow, it was just difficult going so early in the hike to the summit. This is why one of my co-hikers turned back.

At the cables, the trail was totally covered with snow. I spent about half my time inside the cable or Cable Posts (the park service has not put the cables up for the year yet) and half my time out side the cable posts. I used crampons because I had them, my one remaining companion did not have them and she was fine. Now at the end of the cable I was standing out side the posts I had to take my crampons off to scale a five foot rock wall to get back on trail. Your idea of insteps might be a better bet, for better footing.

From that point the trail was fairly clear, I did running into a few extra snow fields than normal. I guess it was about what I expected, and almost everyone would hike up the edge of the snow to the next part of the switchback.

It was just right at the top, the last snow field before cresting into Sequoia National Park. There is always snow at this point, however; this time it was more like a wall that you had to go up and over. Looking at this snow field, at first, it was unclear how people made it past this point. Once again I use my crampons to hike up and over the top of this snow field. Once at the top I removed the crampons and hurried down to Trail Crest, and then to the point of the trail that merges with the John Muir Trail to try and escape the wind.

I hope this helps, I used everything that I had Ice Ax, Crampons, and Snowshoes (for hiking out of the snow field after glissading down the chute).

My co-hikers all had trekking poles (no crampons) and seemed to do fine. There were a few times that my co-hiker gave me the trekking poles and used my ice ax to anchor herself into the snow field. Like normal the ice ax comes in handy about 5% to 10% of the time, maybe a little more in this trip that I just returned from.

Good luck on your trip. I hope that the winds have died down for you.

MBF,

Thanks again for the even greater detail.I'm leaving home in about an hour to drive up to the Portal for the night than up in the morning.
I'm not feeling all that comfortable with my limited experience and how you've described the switchbacks that I'll go any farther than that.I guess I'll go and do my best and learn and build from there.Thanks everyone for your input and advice.Now its time to just do it.