Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum MR Conditions March 2010

This is also posted on the main forum.

Conditions on the North Fork and the Mountaineer's Route are changing almost daily. Here are conditions as of March 21.

The Whitney Portal Road
An avalanche came down over the road in an area where it historically have been prone to it. This avalanche blocks the road about .2 miles beyond the Bogart switchback in the road. The last time this happened a few years back the road was not passable until late April.


The North Fork below Lower Boyscout Lake
This section is melting fast. Those of us who know where the summer trail goes should be diligent to try to kick in the route where the summer trail goes.

This is a photo taken looking down canyon from above the Ebersbacher Ledges. The patches of the summer trail are visible between the snow.

Also starting to be exposed are trail restoration markers. These are areas of rehabilitation. When you see these try to be sure the route is kicked in to avoid them so others will follow.

Those rehabilitation markers look like this close up:


Above Lower Boyscout Lake
Snow coverage is good above Lower Boyscout Lake


The hill below Iceberg Lake is always one that scares me for avalanche danger. An avalanche buried two guys a few years back and they were fortunate to be able to dig themselves out. This hill also features a nice terrain trap at the bottom. It is consolidating quickly but evidence of some of its weakness can be seen. Sun balls are evident.

There were cracks in the snow on Saturday March 20.


The Mountaineer's Chute


Above The Notch


The rest of the photos I took from the trip are here.

Kurt, those are really great pictures and comments, appreciate it much!
Will be up there over Easter!

Needless to say, congrats on the summit!


Berne Mettenleiter

Thanks Berne. I added a link to the rest of the photos I took so there's a few more you may be intersted in seeing. I'll try to update if I see anything between now and Easter.

Thank you, Kurt!!!

Hi Kurt,
You probably don't remember me but I climbed with BCM and Chris Werner was my guide on Mt. Darwin 2 yrs ago. Anyway, a friend of mine who has climbed Shasta and just completed a three wk wilderness training seminar has an opportunity to climb Whitney this weekend. She's strong and I'm sure she can do it. The people she's going with know the MR and some have climbed Denali but are not roping up. I've only climbed with guides, have climbed Whitney MR 3X (during winter/spring conditions), furthest for me was 150' short of the Notch. I know guide services must rope their clients for liability and safety reasons but do you encourage they rope up past The Notch? Are the conditions icy past The Notch? What about avalanche conditions? Thanks Kurt! Great pics btw!

April Yamaichi

Hi April... yes I remember you!

Yeah we rope up for the MR. Above the notch we also use ropes. This is where the terrain is the steepest. I've seen lots of people look very sketchy climbing and descending that section of the route. It has also been the site of several accidents over the years.

This time of year the conditions usually don't include ice. It is snow of varying degrees of firmness. There are a couple parts of the route that cna be prone to avalanches. It's definitely worth wearing transceivers plus bringing probes and shovels.