Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board First Timer Needs Clarification on the Chute

Hello all.
My sister and I are hiking the Mt Whitney Trail a week from today (June 30-July 2) and I have a couple of questions and was hoping people with experience could answer or give advice. I have read this forum a lot in the past 2-3 months and have gained valuable advice on training and the hike in general and I feel we are ready. We are planning on camping at Trail Camp the first day and hopefully the summit the next morning.

Here are my questions:
-obviously judging from recent posts, the cables at the switchbacks are iced/snowed over and are not advised at this time so I plan on the alternative route that everyone has been referring to as "the chute". I have seen the post (and photos):

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/...=true#Post77615

The question(s) here are:
-how far is the chute from Trail Camp? Is it hard to locate early in the morning from Trail Camp?
-Is it marked or how do you figure out where to go?
-How steep is it and how far up is it? (aprox)And is it hard to locate back to the trail?
-Does it meet up with Trail Crest and then you make your way to the summit from there?
-Most importantly, is it safe enough that NPS deems it safe? (I suppose conditions apply and of course we are using crampons and ice axes.) I am not easily spooked by height or distance, but I'm not risking my life at the same time.

I am assuming that it is a shortcut (which is actually a "longcut") to get around the switchbacks that might take 2-3 hours to get to....Trail Crest?

Any advice/answers would be helpful. Sorry if these questions have been posted in some form or another lately.

Many thanks in advance!

When you get to trail camp the first day you will see it. If not, ask around, there will be people all over.

Its not marked but there will likely be a boot track to follow and other people. It will take you directly to trail Crest. You gain about 1600' in less than 1 mile.Its the "A" on this map.

I don't think the forest service deems anything "safe"???

1 & 2 How far and is it marked...1/2 mile, maybe. It all lays out in front of you. It's not hard to figure out.

Is it steep...Yeah, its steep and goes from 12,500 to 13,600' in less than a mile. Again, everything lays out in front of you. You don't need markers to figure thing out.

Trail Crest...It's easy to figure out where to go...the highest point. Once there you head north on the west side. By now, there are enough signs a blind man can most likely find the peak.

Safe...This ain't a cul de sac in suburbia. There are inherent dangers on ice and snow. All the forest service can do is give their best estimate of conditions...which change daily.

Safe is a relative term. I've been doing this for years; based on your questions you have not used axe or crampons. It very safe for me since I've done things like this many times. For you? I can't answer that question.

All I tell people, don't go high than you can safely descend.

Great...many thanks for the information.

Char, I sent you a private message. I'm also heading up the Main Trail on the 30th and have an overnight permit. Good luck.