Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board When, on average, does the Mountaineer's Route get too snowy/icy?

I'm trying to figure out when to try the hike next year and would ideally like to do it soon after Labor Day if possible. I want to go to Yosemite a few days before and I figure the crowds will be lower at that point.

However, I don't want to push it back so far to where the MR is so snowy and icy as to not have a dry route up near the top past the notch. When does it start to get more icy up there in an "average" year? Thanks...

This time of year the first big snow storm can come any time. You just never know really when it will come. It might be a week or two and then maybe it will hold off a month or two.

Best bet is to not plan it too late. Labor day is a fairly safe bet and a nice time to climb. By October all bets are off.

Where in Yosemite are you planning on going? Up at Tuolumne Meadows (8,600 feet), the park/concession services started cutting back their hours on August 23 and it was not that crowded when we were up there the following weekend (since many schools now start before Labor Day). At that time of the year, Mt. Dana (13,000 feet) is a good prep for Whitney.

Well, I guess I wouldn't push it past mid September now that I think about. Labor Day is Sept 3 of next year, so if I started the trip at the end of that week, I'd go to Yosemite first, and then some other Sierra locales, and then I'd probably be hitting Whitney right around the middle of the month. So I guess I need to know if it is usually very icy during mid September up there near the end of the MR above the notch. That's the part of the climb that I am most concerned about.

I assumed that Yosemite would still be mobbed up until Labor Day, but maybe not because school does start back earlier as you say. But I'd still like to avoid Labor Day weekend, so it may be best to go afterwards.

I haven't thought much about where I'd go in Yosemite I wanted to check out all the main areas as I'd have a couple of days or longer if I wanted.

I was thinking I'd do the Clouds Rest hike, but I'd love an even better hike to prepare for Whitney, so I'll have to check into Mt. Dana and do some research on that one.

As far as high elevation "prep" hikes, I was also considering Mount Morgan as "wingding" recently posted her photos from that hike and it looked great. I think it is 13K+ as well. But I can't see doing more than a two or three long hikes before Whitney or I'll be too worn out by the time I get to it at the end of my trip. Although I hope to train hard for a few months beforehand, so maybe I'll be able to handle it better than I think.

There are probably so many amazing hikes in the Sierra and it is going to be tough to narrow it down to two or three. I'd like to find some where the campgrounds are at very high elevations, so that will help with acclimatization as well.

But I don't want to go off on a tangent and I hope I can get some more opinions on the conditions on the MR during mid September.