Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Weather Conditions

A group of friends and myself are traveling from Ohio to climb Mt. Whitney on the 16th of May. One group is attempting the summit via the popular Mt. Whitney Trail, while another is taking the Mountaineers Route. I was curious to know what the weather was like in the area and if either of the trails were still icy.
N.E.O.H.O.=Northeast Ohio Hiking Organization.

We came home yesterday from a couple days climbing around on/ around Thor peak.

On the regular trail, Lone Pine lake is still frozen with a few feet of snow. Above about 9700 feet the regular trail is still covered with snow. On the MR snow is solid above Lower Boy Scout lake. It is warm and sunny during the day but still freezes over at night.

During May the snow line usually rises about 500 feet per week. That would suggest snow solid above 11000 - 11500 feet by May 16th. The snow is melting fast but there will be plenty left at the higher elevations in just a few weeks.

If your looking for up to date weather info for the Whitney area go to this site.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/lasvegas/index.shtml

hiiker

Last week my pard and I went up to the Monarch Divide in Kings Canyon. Spring is way early this year but still, we hit snow at about 9000 feet. On some of the south and southwest slopes, it is dry all the way to over 11k feet. In the tree shaded areas above 8500 feet, the non-s/sw slopes above 8k feet and the north slopes in particular had a lot of snow still. From the top of the Monarch divide, I could see frozen (thin) lakes and about 90% or so coverage looking north. It is my impression that sun exposed areas above treeline tend to dry out before snow lower down in shade or in trees. Naturally, snow can and does linger for a long time in shaded areas, like gullies for example. On the Monarch, the snow was just about perfect: we did not even need snow-shoes, ice-axe , crampons or anything: we just walked right up on firm snow. We had a blast running down, though it was too wet by afternmoon to glis. This is a great time for extended trips into high basins with snow-shoes.

-Doyle
www.sierra-trails.com

Hi all,

We plan on doing a day trip next week on the main (easy) trail. We plan to leave around 2:00 am. Does anyone have any estimates on the ranges of temperatures I might encounter on the mountain throughout the day?

Based on previous posts on this thread, it appears that crampons will not be needed until about 10,500+. Sound right?

TIA

Steve

Early in the morning, crampons will be usefull as soon as you get to the snow. The snow will be hard and slipery, and even a medium slope can be dangerous without them. By about 9:00 - 10:00 am the snow will soften up enough you might be able to do without. But by then you will be high on the mountain where there is lots of snow.

It is still below freezing at night but quickly warms up, starting about 7-8 am. It could easily be up to around 50-60 degrees around 10000 - 11000 feet by noon. There is a slight cooling trend next week, which will help. You can look at the projected temperatures in Lone pine at www.weather.com and then subtract about 3.5 degrees for every 1000 feet of elevation. That will give you a better guess.