Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Two Climbers reach summit yesterday

Hi I talked with two climbers/skiers yesterday they just finished the mountaineers route and skied down ,trip time was about 7-8 hours ,
They said back side above the notch didn't fill in and was very tough going , "a dusting of snow over the rock" and the top section of the chute rocks are not covered.
They skined up ,not sure if they took snow shoes, but they saw someone without snowshoes and said the person was sinking with out them.
They parked below the first switchback and traveled up the road.
These guys are very skilled climbers
also live at high elevation and are in the weather all the time.
We have had warm days the last week so watch the next storm if the snow is heavy again slides will start. Thanks Doug

Thank you Doug for posting that info. I live overseas and have never been to the Sierras in the winter. I was wondering if anyone was able to summit with so much snow having fallen. Are the creeks near the Portal storefrozen solid in the winter?

Actually, much of the river/ creek is under the snow. But here and there you can look down through a hole and see the water. You can lean down far enough to fill up your water bottle

I have a picture of that on page 5

http://client.webshots.com/album/253846173OxipEl

Doug - Did they happen to give you any contact info. I plan to do the same thing in early April and would love to get some beta from them on what worked and what didn't.