Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Current Conditions on the MR?

Two things.....
(1)does anyone know of recent avalanche conditions on the MR (specifically the slope above Lower Boys Scout Lake and the MR Colouir)?

(2)does anyone know if the Lone Pine drainage has enough snow to avoid the icy EB Ledges?

conditions are changing so fast that a report will probably not help you. sat feb 3rd the ledges had over 12 inches of snow and secure footing. sunday feb 4th they had 1 inch of slush ice and heavy pucker facter upon decent. the chute was anywhere from ankle to waist deep (filled with spindrift). the top of the chute to summit was completly clear except for the first fifteen feet of the route which was all ice and twarted my solo summit. the good news is try the route and if you do not like the conditions, relax a few minutes and it will change. what a goofy winter!

Leo,

Two of my guides just came down from the MR on Sunday. They reported light faceted snow in the chute. It was up to chest deep in places. Faceted snow doesn't bond well and usually is a contributing cause to a slope being unstable. At Iceberg Lake there were drifts over waist deep and in other places it was bare.

The area that gets overlooked a lot is the slope just below Iceberg Lake. It has some faceting snow but it's south facing so it'll metamorphose a little differently than the east face MR chute will.

If you decide to go I wish you a safe and fun trip!

All the bests,

Kurt

They brought snowshoes and were glad to have them. They used snowshoes above Lower Boyscout Lake.

The Ledges were a bit slippery. Watch your footing on them. There wasn't enough snow to avoid the Ledges.