Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Portal Road Open?

I recall hearing somewhere that the powers that be plan to keep the portal road open to the campground all winter. Is this true?

Hi Road to Lone Pine Campground should stay open this year ,campground is open ,Thanks Doug

Keep in mind that it's the lower, Lone Pine campground that will be open, and not the Portal Camground.

Paul

So where is the road closed right now? Is the gate right before starting up the switchbacks closed?

Snow and rocks on the road close the road up higher. They don't have a gate or anything. There is just a road closed sign right before the big switchback (at the bottom of the hill) which many just drive around....kind of like at your own risk.

If they really wanted the road totally closed they would install a large gate like you see on the Horse shoe meadows road.

You need to be carefull not to get snowed in up there. etc.

Thanks GoingBackSoon. That's helpful info.

Hi The steepness of the road is misleading if you are going down and hit this clear ice, chains 4wd doesn't help . This year it took two days to move our vehicles out , waiting for "that ice to melt " and that period may only be about 1-2 hours max. Thnks Doug

Bob R. posted a few pictures of the portal and ice on the road from Dec 21st. It doesn't sound too safe to drive above the campground area.

http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/2913416/guest.phtml

Bob's pictures are encouraging. I'm planning a trip to Lone Pine Peak on MLK weekend. If it doesn't dump between now and then we ought to be able to get pretty close to the Meysan Lakes trailhead.

Thanks much to those who continue to post beta on this thread. I'll keep checking it for the next couple weeks, and of course will report back on what we find in mid-January.

Steve: Doug reports 3 inches of snow in town overnight. www.395.com weather report shows another storm coming through tonight (when it is the coldest) and bringing the total snow in town to 4-8 inches.

There are also expected storm totals up on the mountain of 1-2 feet for the first storm and 10-18 inches of additional snow tonight.

All this means there will be quite a bit of snow on the road, even down to the area of Lone Pine Campground.

MLK Holiday is far enough away some of that snow might melt. We should get some updates by then.

I imagine this changes everything for those going up this week and next. What a difference a few days makes.

Hi about 9 inches of snow in town today.about 16 inches in the Alabamas, so I would say at least 3 feet at the portal and more higher,Satrted raining again tonight about 8PM .foothills are solid white both Inyos and Sierra. Thanks doug

Who locked the gate on the road going to cottonwood lakes? Last year the road was open all year. Too bad, the area has great snow shoeing.

Whitney Portal road was plowed to Olivas Ranch Rd. That is about three miles down from the Road Closed sign at the switch back. There are no pending plans to plow further on, as no one lives above that road. If one travels beyond the "Snow Not Removed Beyond This Point" sign, then there should be no expectation of road clearing. Please use caution.

On Dec. 28th. there was 30" of snow at the Store. And yes, it is VERY ICY.

With the average high temperature in Lone Pine of about 45-50 degrees, it seems the snow would gradually melt on the road up to about 6500 feet. Is this true?

Temperatures would normally get above freezing up to at least 6500 feet.