Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board PORTAL ROAD

Time to install a zip line....

July 11, maybe start the grinding and paving , maybe 5 days a week , maybe 7AM-7PM ,may start on the town section maybe start up in the Portal. Kinda behind right now but when they start it will be a ride,
This puts the major paving during the peak season so with the normal traffic, paving machines, rollers and endless line of dump trucks moving at crawl speed up the mountain and cars overheating and a few brakes/ transmissions overheating plan for longer delays. Start early if you can, reach the Portal before 7 AM .
A major concern is the constant grade up the road , trucks will overheat if overloaded and the asphalt plant is in Ridgecrest.The turn around time for each truck will be 3 hours, and as always most road jobs are done during the summer so if they have not contracted for haul trucks and all the machines needed that could be a problem also.

Good news the switchbacks will be open and time for the annual 2 weeks of rain and flooding! Jack and Betsy will be arriving so as the story goes.......

Bets and I will be hanging around the Portals for 4 weeks this summer. Hard to image how much rain is going to happen, but maybe the trucks won't over heat as much.

Still plan on hiking from town if the road crew will let me. O just remembered the trail thru the Alabama's is now complete so I don't need the road. Good Luck on the Parking. Looking forward to all the mass confusion. Going up for a sneak peak on June 23 and summit ( via the switchbacks ) on June 25. Will give a report when we return to San Diego.

Remember the summit is only half way.

Still Crazy Jack

Switchbacks are getting tracks, as always the top turn at the end of the cable section is still a serious effort and will be for several more days, but it will get solid steps kicked in and then dry soon.

If the weather reports are correct we are in for some heat the next few days.This should clear most of the remaining snow, with only patches on the north facing areas.

Ok so the new construction update out today is 2 - up to 3 hour delays on the upper portion of the Portal Road during Grinding and Paving and NO PARKING ALONG THE UPPER ROAD in the construction area.

These shutdown periods will be 8AM TO 11 AM AND 1PM TO 4 PM
Monday -Friday and construction hours 6 30 AM -630PM MONDAY TO FRIDAY
Starting July 11, 2016

Also still could be delays in the lower section up to 30 minutes.