I was up there too from 4/15 to 4/17. Here's a report (a little long sorry) I posted on the
www.mt-whitney.info board:
Good news. For those heading up to the Portal, you can now get further than before. Though there is a road closed sign (positioned near the rockfall zone) the road has been plowed (one narrow lane only) to just below the overflow parking area. This occurred just this past weekend. Those who didn't wish to pass the road closed sign were parking near the rockslide area. Except for one large rock all rock debris has been cleared off the road.
On Friday (4/15) when I headed up an impassable berm of trees had been piled up by the dozer (who was busy that day) forcing my group to park down at the first switchback (7100 ft). This was later removed.
There is still a lot of snow at the Portal. The top of the Whitney Trailhead sign was just barely visible. Beyond the vicinity of the trailhead the main trail is almost entirely clear of snow to the North Fork Lone Pine Creek crossing. Beyond that point the main trail appears to be mostly covered by snow. The North Fork route has total snow coverage except for the first few hundred feet or so. The North Fork drainage below LBSL is filled with plenty of snow. The creek is covered by snow and is only visible occasionally. There were no problems crossing snow bridges though the first bridge may soon collapse. The Ebersbacher Ledges appear clear of snow though there is no need to use them. Things were really getting warm in the afternoon and the melt rate is beginning to increase. In the morning the hike up to LBSL was nice for crampons. We kept them on almost all the way to UBSL.
In the afternoon the snow got quite soft and we started to posthole. Below UBSL we decided that since we brought the snowshoes we might as well use them and thus put them on for our final push to base camp. If you can do all your hiking before noon you might be able to get by without snowshoes, but if you're hiking in the afternoon you might want to bring them because the postholing can get pretty unpleasant.
Overnight temperature at UBSL was 24 degrees F one night and 30 degrees the next. Because of surface melt and refreezing the snow (at least near UBSL) is becoming crusty and slippery in the mornings. Thus, things change quite a bit from morning to afternoon.
There was a mixture of snow leading up to the notch. In some places it was powder soft and in others it was hard. You never knew what each step would bring. One would be soft the next hard. The conditions changed throughout the day as the snow went from sun to shadow. Glissading below the notch wasn't much of an option (due to the hard spots) except down lower where things were softer. We took our crampons off on the way down (because we were hoping to glissade) but I think we would actually have gotten down faster (and safer) had we left them on.
Conditions in the chute above the notch to me seemed as ideal as could be expected. Snow was firm and allowed for good grip from our crampons. There is a very nice ramp of snow leading up into the chute. You must cross a small rock band (perhaps 20 feet) which is clear of ice. Since everyone seems to stick to the same tracks you essentially have nice steps (complete with holes to sink in your ice axe handle) all the way up. This really helps out on the way down. Everyone seemed to frontpoint all or most of the way down. There is a nice cornice at the top. The tracks leading up split two ways and you can either go up to the left or right of the cornice. I would not attempt a glissade in the chute. Because the snow is firm, a slip could easily be fatal (as recent events have shown).
The other option, the traverse above the North Face, looks a bit sketchy. I saw two people do it, though most used the chute. Because of the way snow has piled up the traverse is steeper than it is when it's clear later in the year. Again, a slip is easily fatal.
The summit has patchy snow. The summit hut is filled with snow to within 6 inches of the ceiling -- not an option if you intend to spend the night.
Photos from this past weekend are here:
<a href="http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/viewer.asp?FolderID=382">Whitney MR Photos 4/15-4/17</a>
-Rick
