Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Bear Canisters on MR

I have heard that bear cannisters are not required on the MR. I am planning on staying overnight at Iceberg in a couple weeks. What's the conventional wisdom on whether or not to take one?

The biggest problems up there are Marmots and birds. I usually bring a Ursack with no aluminum insert and make sure to hang it from a very larger boulder. The only time I had a problem was when I forgot to hang the bag of food and halfway up the MR from Iceberg I looked back to see a large Raven trying to get into the bag. He never got to the food, but put a hole in the Ursack.

Most people I know prefer to hang their food up there, while others bring canisters. I prefer to save the weight of carrying the cannister.

I carried a Bear Canister. My understanding is that they ARE required, however I wish I hadn't had to carry the extra weight.

I think a bear bag would have been enough, though who knows. I DO know that they stayed away from our packs, etc, so even the Marmots weren't so bad. Though, if you judge from the scat, there are a LOT of Marmots around Iceberg.

Bear Canisters may be recommended in the MR, but they have not in the past been required. It is always possible they will change the rule on bear canisters, which would be a shame.

On my last trip up there, folks at Iceberg Lake had their gear hanging off the big rocks in bags. This would be to keep their food away from Marmots mostly.

I took one on my last trip up although the ranger did say the we only recommended it and it was not mandatory, next year I will probably skip the bear canister to save weight. We had no problems with marmots, birds or bears. But I think I would take the advice of hanging the food up. Seems to be the best option on the MR.