Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney Trail pictures, Friday April 16

The weather was a little blustery, and got worse as the day progressed. Pictures <a href=http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/2227827>here</a>.

Not much exciting in the pictures but they do show the current snow conditions, at least up to Trail Camp.

Thanks, Bob. As usual, great pictures. I'm planning on heading up the northfork in a month and it will be interesting to see what changes snow-level and conditions-wise. But Marsh from the main trail, from previous pictures of yours, looks interesting too. I'll have to add that to my list for the future. Thank again.

Great pics. I always love looking to the east over the Inyos when I am up high in the Sierra's, especialy when it is cold and blustery. I always get a yearning to get down as fast as possible and haul butt over to Saline Valley hot springs and soak my sore bones. Any skiers up there? Where do you live? You seem to make it up there often. My wife and I have been looking to make the move to Lone Pine.

As usual, Bob is too gracious. The two he was to meet was me, and a ski patrol buddy of mine. We fairly made a mess of our trip, getting a phenominally late start on thursday, only getting up as far as Lone Pine Lake. The snow really got started about there. A number of day hikers were hiking up to the lake in summer hiking boots, with no trouble. We got up somewhat late the next morning, not really expecting the weather we were to encounter. In retrospect, we think Bob actually passed us, before we got going.

As we moved up, the weather started to get more serious, as it started snowing, and eventually, some of the surrounding peaks were hard to see. There was no sunlight, and the temp dropped and the wind was picking up. We got as far as the ridge above Mirror Lake, when we decided to leave Marsh for another day. But now we had a problem: I had arranged, stupidly, for Bob to just bring up some extra fuel, but to use our stove, rather than his having to haul another one up. I assumed that Bob might want to continue up and camp as we'd planned. I also assumed that he was behind us some place. Knowing that there were alternate routes up, we decided that we'd split up and go down different routes, and pass the stove off to Bob (anything to get someone else to carry weight!) Problem was, we didn't encounter him. I planted my axe on a couloir that I thought he might ascend, with a note, while I hooked back up with my partner. When the clock got to 3, I knew he couldn't be below, if he was on the mountain at all. So we took off, only to find his truck at the Portal (sigh).

I left a note, and as we were leaving, a climber came down that had seen Bob getting to Trail Camp about 1pm.

I must say that we thought the snow was amazingly good. Perfect corn, for the most part. My partner did not even bother with crampons on the way up, although I felt more secure with mine on.
Never broke through the surface. Coming down, when it was a lot colder, the snow was icy, and the crampons helped a lot.

Of note, there was an REI commercially guided group at Mirror Lake, training for Denali. They had gotten there the previous day, apparently, and decided to go no higher because of the temperature and weather, and came out. I don't know about Denali....

I am amazed at the time that Bob made it up the mountain, particularly with a winter pack.

thanks for the pictures Bob R, was wondering about what altitude snow accumulated on the trail and did you need snowshoes up to Trail Camp?

snow on the trail became significant about 9600 feet, although I saw a number of day hikers who hiked up to Lone Pine Lake, about 10k, where the coverage was complete. We didn't bother with snowshoes, based on Bob's hike a week before, and never would have needed them. Bob apparently did bring his, but stashed them at Bighorn Park on the way up, and never used them.

I see that clear weather is predicted for the next 10 days (sigh), so I'd be carefully checking TR's before making a decision about snowshoes after the next few days.