Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Snow Adventure hike Jan 16-17, 2005

We went up for some time in the White winter wonderland.

See some photos @ http://community.webshots.com/album/253846173OxipEl

Message
kashcraft

Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 59
Location: Westchester California
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:18 pm Post subject: Snow Adventure report

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Every trip up in the Whitney area proves to be a great adventure.

We started about 12:30 pm January 16th, 2005 and walked about 30 minutes to the bottom of the switchback ( near the road closed sign @6200 feet). We decided not to stay on the road for the next section. Instead we would climb almost straight up the hill to the top of the switchback (@7440 feet).

As you can imagine that proved quite a challenge. Our snowshoes quickly became of no use. We climbed and crawled and made our way through the snow and rocks up to the road above. Often we were wading through huge snowdrifts. Standing on the road again was quite nice and we throught it was cool seeing the huge snowdrifts on the road. No question at all it will be closed for a long time.

As Richard P reported, huge boulders had fallen on the road. While we were there we could still hear rocks falling...It is obviously still loose.

Past the Whitney portal campground we left the road again, heading straight west through the forest....once again this bypasses the road when it winds back on itself. We had been through this area before walking from Whitney portal campground up to the Portal store.

The lower parking lot was quite the sight, with a huge snowdrift on top of the bathroom building. The bear boxes were no not even visible. I am sure the Portal area had 5-7 feet of snow.

After 4 1/2 hours we got to the portal.. It got dark at about 5:30pm and after we had been asleep a long time I woke up.....only 10:00 pm. Matthew and Brent were quite dissapointed. 12 hours of darkness is a long time to be in your tent.

Monday morning at daybreak we headed up the Old Mt. Whitney trail area...at the west end of the parking lot ....up toward the Northeast rib of Thor peak. Most of the time we had our snow shoes on. When it got real steep we did some more wading and crawling through the snow. We finally & reached followed the regular trail for a while and then again climbed west up to the top of the forest. From there we started the long slide down to the portal on our blue sleds. That was the BEST part of the whole experience.

We packed up and left the portal about 9:30 to head back to the car. Once we had passed the Meysan lake parking I felt seduced by the large snow covered hills going down and to the right. Before long I convinced my son and nephew that would be fun to slide down. Once at the bottom we followed the river down to the opening of the canyon. Other then looking down there from time to time, I haven't given much thought to what is down there.

That provided numerous hills to slide down. But it also was quite a hastle from time to time....a vast array of trees, bushes and crossing the river trying not to fall in. We even found a cliff area with a hidden waterfall (too dark for a good photo). For a while we stayed on what seemed to be the trail going from the portal to the Lone Pine Campground.

Unfortunately snow shoes were of no help in that area.....We got back to the car about 1:00 pm.

Staying on the road would have been much faster....but then again....we love the art of cross country exploration.

See the photos @ http://client.webshots.com/album/253846173OxipEl

I enjoyed your pictures. I guess you don't stay on the trail much in the winter, even if you know where it is. It sounds like the sleds made the trip down more fun. That area you came down to get back to the portal is one big sea of bushes in the summer.

It makes me want to work out some way to go experience the area in the winter.

Great shots! I watched the whole slide show. Makes me eager to get out on my almost-healed sprained foot.

I noticed the picture of the trailhead bathrooms. I guess this time of year you have to share facilities with the bears. By the way, did you see any signs of bears?

Awesome photos..I went through all of them...! Thanks for posting them...they really put the urge to be there into me!

BeachAV8R

No signs of Bears....we did see some small animal tracks in the snow....like mice and maybe a small rabbit here and there.

I never really gave it much thought. In all the years up there I have only seen a bear live twice...once in the middle of the night at Whitney Portal campground and last summer robbing food from once of the bear boxes at the lower parking lot.

Maybe the bears couldn't get the required permit to be there in the winter. Must be a hard time for them....no free food to rip off.

> Maybe the bears couldn't get the required permit to be there in the winter.

LOL, good one. Or maybe they are afraid of getting their crampons caught in the snow when they glissade down.

Aren't bears supposed to hibernate in the winter?

I guess if they're smart enough to ride a motorcycle or remove their crampons before glissading, they're smart enough to go through the Winter without hibernating!

Speaking of bears in the winter....Doug Sr. mentioned in a post that bears have come all the way down to the edge of town...in the winter looking for food.

I guess that is the ones having trouble getting to sleep.

No one should be surprised to see bears in the winter, particularly in areas where they may be disturbed and food sources are readily available. The following was excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernation

Hibernation is a state of regulated hypothermia, lasting several days or weeks, that allows animals to conserve energy during the winter. During hibernation animals slow their metabolism to a very low level, with body temperature and breathing rates lowered, gradually using up the body fat reserves stored during the warmer months. Some hibernating animals stir as often as once a week; others sleep throughout the season.

Both land-dwelling and aquatic mammals hibernate. Animals that hibernate include mice, bats, ground squirrels, terrapins, snakes, frogs, and newts. Although Pliny thought that swallows hibernated, and even a keen observer like the Rev. Gilbert White (The Natural History of Selborne) agreed, birds typically do not hibernate, instead using torpor, but a rare bird known as the Poorwill does hibernate. Aquatic animals can hibernate either in or out of water. Red-eared Terrapins hibernate in water, burying themselves in the mud at the bottom of a pond. Newts are capable of hibernation on land or in water.

One animal that some consider to be a hibernator but is not a true hibernator is the bear. While its heart rate is slow, the bear's body temperature remains relatively stable and it can be easily aroused. Other non-hibernators that are commonly assumed to be a hibernators include badgers, raccoons, and opposums.

Before entering hibernation most species eat a large amount of food and store energy in fat deposits in order to survive the winter. Some species of mammals hibernate while gestating young, which are born shortly after the mother stops hibernating.

> Before entering hibernation most species eat a large amount of food and store energy in fat deposits in order to survive the winter.

So that's why you need to protect your "pick-a-nick basket"!