Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum MR Route at end of May

Greetings Everyone--

Although I've been 'quietly' reading and watching this message board for a while, this is my first post. From what I've seen, many of you give out great, and copious, amounts of intel. So "thanks" for what I've seen (text and pictures) so far.

I am planning on climbing Mt. Whitney, via the MR, May 19th and 20th with 2 other guys. We've done quite a bit of rope work in various places, and (though not experts) we are comfortable with crampons/ice axes/snow shoes.

I'm trying to get a feel for what kind of conditions we should 'expect' to see at the end of May. (yes, I know things aren't guaranteed...no worries).

1) Should we expect parts of the gully/notch/chute to be completely iced up (I doubt it, but wanted to check)? Or would you think there'd be an ice-free path?

2) What kind of weather & conditions would you expect at Iceburg Lake (our probable camp site)? Will we need a 4 season tent? Or just a sleeping bag & bivy sack? Somewhere in between?

3) Any potential problems taking the Ledges in May? I can't think of any...but I figure someone else would know for sure.

4) I'm betting that snowshoes won't be necessary that far into spring...but I'm willing to bring them if there's a fair chance we'll need them.

Thanks very much!

And if anyone out there Mtn. bikes and has any questions about trails down in Southern Orange county (e.g. Cleveland National Forest, etc.), don't hesitate to ask!

-Devon

The other members on this site will have much better information to offer you than I have. I'm going to go up at the end of April, so I'll let you know then. What I can suggest however, is that you check out the summit weather condition for previous years to get an objective idea of what to expect at the higher altitudes:

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/rawMAIN.pl?nvwmtn

If you pick monthly summary from the left hand column you can see what the weather was like for each May since 2004. Iceburg lake is not too far from the summit elevation wise, so if you prepare yourself for those conditions you'll probably be peachy at camp.

Good luck!

Christine

1) Expect most of the gully and the chute to be covered by snow. The snow conditions will depend on the weather and time of the day. Definitely bring crampons and ice axe.

2) The weather conditions are hard to predict - I would definitely start monitoring the forecast several days before the trip. Yet, it can still change fast when you are up high. There might be snow-free spots at Iceberg lake. As far as camping gear, it depends on how much weight you are willing to carry and how comfortable you want to be.

3) I personally think the biggest problem with ladges in late may will be route finding, especially on the way back, especially if you pass them in the dark. Don't sprint through this section on the way up and notice where exactly the downclimb is.

4) I am a big fan of snowshoes and I would consider bringing them is there is still significant snow coverage between UBSL and Iceberg lake. I am sure a lot of people will disagree but, personally, I would prefer carrying them up to avoid a mile-plus of postholing. Again, only if snow coverage is still siignificant which may not be the case and if you plan on hiking through this section in the afternoon when the snow is slushy ....
Cheers

Note that the quoted link is for White Mountain- Similar elevation but in a different range and about 70 miles from Whitney.

Thanks Christine, amax, and JimQPublic! I like the weather site...though I can see the weather fluctuates quite a bit year to year...at least I can get a good idea. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Yeah, I heard that the Ledges are hard to route-find on the way down. I was thinking of maybe bringing some spray paint so that I could just paint a trail on the rock. (Ok...just kidding :)) I'll make sure to look back often on my way up...good advice.

One other thought -- how are the local bears? See them very often this time of year? I know the bear protocols..(i.e. bring a partner slower than myself)..just curious.

TTFN.

The bears are getting really wild ... i lost two belayers last season so you should watch out

Wild as they be, the bears are nothing compared to the marmots :

http://mtnspirit.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/marmot3.jpg

PS. Thanks for pointing out that the URL for that weather site is not for the Whitney summit. I'm not from California and that completely escaped me. I've been studying that site in detail thinking it was for Whitney. I do hope that the weather on Whitney is not vastly different. Thank you any how for pointing this out.

Devon - One year on June 1- the sudden onset of hot weather -100degrees- down in Lone Pine had my partner and I postholing the MR in t-shirts from midnight to dawn when we got to Iceberg Lake and finally onto frozen snow. But the Sun soon turned the gully into a knee deep death struggle all the way to the 14k notch.
The previous days footsteps were gone, erased by the heat.

So yes watch the weather. We started wishing for snowshoes half way to UBS lake.
Wished we had come a week earlier or later, or that we'd brought
a bag of sugarized koolaid to make slurpee's.

Definitely the most fun I've ever had on the MR!

Good luck.

Thanks Lacrosse (My 14yo just started playing lacrosse and is loving it).

As we approach the date, we've come to realize that we may need to fill the van with almost anything we could need (t-shirts & shorts to our layered system, from hiking boots to show shoes, etc.) Then, once we're at the Portal looking up the mtn, pick those things that we think we'll need and leave the rest.

We'll bring the icee powder mix...maybe we could sell them at iceburg lake? (Do you need a permit for that?)

-devon

Devon - we were stunned at how slow the post holing made us.

The Powerbars we ate by petzl headlamp light just did not keep the spring in our steps.
Still it was amazing at dawn, exhausted, with no intention of turning back we grunted up the hated/loved Whitney in tropical
weather. Hope you have as much fun as we did.