Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney portal road and trail conditions - April

Does anyone know if the road is still blocked at the site of snow slide (approximately 2.5 miles before portal)? Also, any information on trail condition below UBSL, near the ledges would be appreciated. We are planning to visit the hill on april 17 and I am wondering if it will still be possible to hike over the creek avoiding the ledges.

BUMP!

Hi The road is closed. I am not sure why this is such a concern it is an easy hike straight up from the closed sign to join the canyon and to the trail head takes about an 1 1/2 hours but will warm you up for the grunt up the North Fork.

We had some snow Sunday night but most cleared on the lower elevations and we had very high winds over the crest so I would expect little new snow on the west side at the ridge but that means the chutes and gullies on the east side will be loaded and the tracks set by the past weeks will be gone.

I will post when the road is open, the County cleared the snow last week but still needs to do the rock removal and sweep the gravel off . Thanks Doug

Thanks, Doug.

We did the walk on Sunday and out on Monday (yesterday). We chose a crazy day and didn't get too far - but we walked in on dry road and out on 4" of snow. The road was clear up to the sign Doug mentioned. Kurt gave us a ride up another 600 ft and about 1/2 mile further (thanks Kurt ) to where there wass a small avalanche dump blocking things. When we came out there was a tractor that had started working on the avalanche. The road had been cleared recently all the way from the avalanche to the portal on the mountain side past the avalanche, and I suspect that when the tractor finishes it'll be accessible all the way again. That said... there was a lot of debris and it would suck to drive up to the portal and come out to find another slide or avalanche blocking your passage, or to slide around on 4" of snow the whole way out. I suspect a ferry with a couple of cars would get you pretty close, or at least get your packs a long way in. But right now the safest place to leave the car is probably still at the "closed" sign.

Doug, I have to say, the road walk sucks! Not my favourite piece of hiking... easy, but boring.

Andrew: thanks, this was very helpful ...

Very helpful and very informative!

Thank you for the mini TR and the beta!

I wonder, has anyone been up here since after the storm last weekend?

We'll be heading up today- No idea what the snow line will be at though. Could someone shed some light on the Portal Road coditions as of recent?