Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trip Report 8/1

Six of us made it to the summit on Friday as a dayhike. We left the Portal at 0400 and made our way up the trail. Thursday night was clear all night long, but when the sun came up on our hike the clouds started forming. By the time we got 3/4 the way up the switchbacks it starting raining. The rain quickly changed to sleet and at Trail Crest it was snowing. The snow was light and continued all the way to the summit. We were at the summit around 10:30 and the snow flakes were huge. The snow continued on the way down and I tried to do Muir but the rock was wet so I decided against it. On the switchbacks the snow changed to sleet and about halfway down it changed to a steady rain. The rain continued through Trail Camp but began to subside around Trailside Meadow. I wore shorts the whole trip but should have had long pants. It was enjoyable to be on the summit with no wind and with beautiful snow flakes coming down. At no time during the hike did we see any lightning or hear thunder. Here is a view looking south at Keeler needle from the summit. <img src="http://home.mindspring.com/~spc3/whit080103.jpg"width=640"

Great post. As I am making a summit attempt on Wednesday morning, this information is really helpful. The weather report shows that the storms should be over by this day, but you never know what the sierra's will give you...

Chris

P.S.. I also have 2 overnight permits available for August 6th & 7th if anyone is interested. Just reply to this post.

CRAZY - the weather sure can change fast!!!

I can't believe 2 days later (August 3) it looked like this: