Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Forester Pass

I'm heading over Forester Pass from the North in 2 weeks. Just wondering if anyone's been up there recently and what the current conditions are like. The NPS.gov site says the pass is stock passable as of 7/27.

Just went over Forester Pass about 7/20 so a couple of weeks ago. At that time there were a few snow patches to negotiate, but no need for crampons or ice axes as they are well worn. As you near the top, be sure to be watchful of where the trail is ... it is easy to go off trail and it will make your hike to the top alot harder than it needs to be. If you can stick to the trail you will have a much simpler go of it. Have fun .. it was beautiful.

7-17 there were a few large snow fields on the north side, forcing slight route alteration to bypass the big snow patches. Just below the pass we had a cross a few smaller fields, but by now most of that should have melted away


arriving at the top:

A friend who was up to climb Mt. Brewer said he talked to a ranger who reported they were sending a crew to shovel snow off the trail so a scheduled pack train could get through. That must be why the NPS site reports that.

Edit: Oh... right! It was DUG's report where I read about their shoveling the snow.

My brother saw them shoveling during his Forester Pass dayhike..........................DUG

I went over the pass on 7-25 north to south. We met a pack train coming down and they had 2 guys running ahead with shovels to clear the last 20 foot patch of snow that we had easily negotiated.

Forester is definitely completely clear of snow now on the trail anyway. The north side of that pass is gorgeous!