Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board chances of glissading this weekend

going for a day hike on friday, any chance of glissading or is everthing melted? i need to know if it's worth the money to rent an ice axe and/or crampons. from what most people have said after recent trips the crampons won't be necessary.

Wont need crampons. There is a chance of glissading from Trail Crest to Trail Camp...the chute still has enough snow to glissade...although it probably wont last much longer

We glisaded from Trail Crest to the bottom of the snowfield. I only used one of my telescopic hiking poles to steer and control. Snow is soft enough to handle, and totally worth not hiking down the "99 switchbacks". Take a look at my pictures I just posted...

So I am not the most experienced glissader, but it would seem extremely dangerous to me to glissade with crampons. If any of the points catch there is a real risk of tumbling down the slope. In that situation self arrest would be very difficult.

Morten

We glissaded down at about 12:00PM on Saturday June 19th. The previous poster is correct - the snow is MUCH softer in the peak sun exposure hours. We did not use ice axes - just trekking poles cradled into our armpits - used elbows and abdominals to force the poles into the snow to brake. This was my first time glissading - if the snow was harder we'd have needed ice axes and WOULD NOT HAVE ATTEMPTED the glissade.

>>>So I am not the most experienced glissader, but it would seem extremely dangerous to me to glissade with crampons.<<<

Morten has it right. ALWAYS REMOVE CRAMPONS BEFORE GETTING ON THE SLIP AND SLIDE!!!

Yeah that's a cardinal rule of glissading. Never, ever, ever glissade with crampons on. And when I was taught to self arrest with an ice axe (meaning if you were to fall with crampons on) you go onto your stomach and bend your knees so that the crampons are out of the way.

While I've glissaded with trekking poles they really aren't designed for that and you could bend a pole. Nothing beats an ice axe if you've taken a class to learn how to use it.

Someone just posted some photos of someone glissading in shorts. Brrrrrrr.

Ellen