Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Snowshoes this Weekend ???

Will take the MR route on 4/28-4/30. Are snowshoes required this weekend?

We'll be back up 4/28 - 5/2. Based on what I saw last weekend, I'm not planning on bringing snowshoes. The last weather forecast I saw is calling for warmer temps on Saturday and Sunday, so this may be a mistake on my part, but I don't feel like carrying the extra weight (which was dead weight on the hike up to Mirror Lake last Friday; I left them in the car for the North Fork day hike on Saturday and didn't miss them).

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Five of us from Atlanta will arrive early morning on the 28th/Thurs to start our tek to LBSL. How long will it take in snow shoes or crampons and whats the best prognosdication on how far we will be able to drive. We are anxiously watching the weather from here but are unsure how things are really playing out on the mountain. Lastly I think we are somewhat concerned about getting the route wrong if we leave too early before sunrise. Any secrets? Also thanks for the multitude of great pictures of the MR. They have been a blessing for creating a real time vision picture for our climb.

<a href="http://www.mt-whitney.info/viewtopic.php?t=514"Have a look at this report</a>

If you are not familiar with the route, wait until sunrise to head up the drainage to LBSL. You have to negotiate some trees/brush down low and it will be much more difficult to stay on track in the dark.

With a light load, it took me about 1:25 to make it up to LBSL at a comfortable pace. Another 50 minutes to make UBSL. Another 50 minutes to my turn-around point at the cliff below Iceberg Lake.

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Thanks for the Beta. Our packs average 45-50 for 4 days w/o the benefit of altitude prep. so I figure it will be humping time and we'll look for you on the trail. We have all enjoyed your photos and looked at them at length. We have the crampons and snowshoes all we need is the weather.
Thanks Again

Tater,

Weather forcasts for Friday - Sunday are for partly cloudy. The <a href="http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/?dgtl=1&wfo=hnx&zone=caz097&county=CAC107&mapzone=caz097&map.x=163&map.y=60">Whitney Summit weather</a> for Sunday currently calls for "Mostly Cloudy".

You can check the Sequoia National Park weather links -- it is just west of Mt Whitney, and see that there is an increasing chance of precip with a peak of 40% on Tuesday: <a href="http://www.weather.com/activities/other/other/weather/tenday.html?locid=93262">Weather.com ten-day</a> and <a href="http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=93262">Weather Underground site</a>.

Have a great trip, and be safe!
<a href="http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~stevec/" target=_new>Steve C</a>

the weather welcomes Atlanta hikers. with all the rain in the deserts this morning - surely snowy conditions to greet all whitney hikers this day. take proper precautions all.

Friday and Saturday are looking to be OK, with the weather deteriorating on Sunday. I'm more concerned about the forecast for wind.

I've got a quesiton about the Radar Map at Weather Underground: I'm assuming that the squiggly verticle line starting up and left of Ridgecrest is the Sierra Crest. The current map shows no activity near this area. Is this because the radar isn't picking up data from this altitude, or is it a true representation of no precipitation in the area?

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<a href="http://piotrowski.smugmug.com">Smugmug Photo Albums</a>
<a href="http://www.mt-whitney.info">Mt. Whitney, The Sierra Nevada and Beyond...</a>

the rain here is now gone - just clouds and wind on the crest - i bet is windy as hell in some areas up north - gonna try and day hike saturday and/or sunday - stay safe everyone