Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Anyone skied the MR this year?

I'm planning to do the MR route in two weeks (March 23-25)and I want to go up on skins and ski down from the notch or from iceberg lake. I know several groups climbed the MR this weekend. Is the snow good enough to haul my skis and skins up? If not, I will leave them home and use snowshoes.

skiclimber

I would say no based on my experience on Thursday. The North Fork doesn't have enough coverage and is getting pretty rotten. Above that it is powdery, but somewhat bottomless. If there are no big storms between now and then, it is likely most of the area below LBSL will melt out. It is hard to say above that area, but my guess is that it will be decent for hiking, but not skiing.

Thanks for the beta. If the snow is non-existent or rotten below LBSL, then it isn't worth packing the skis up for a short run between iceberg lake and LBSL. Unless we have a big dump between now and then, I'll probably just hike up.

The ride down from Trail Crest can be a lot of fun. At the end of last May, I was able to ski down to Outpost Camp with only a couple of hundred feet (horizontal) of walking across some rock at Trail Camp.

Based on what I've seen of the conditions in the couloir over the years, I'd say that this would be a much more enjoyable ski than the MR.

I do think that there's enough snow on that side of the mountain, although it may still be early in the season for the good corn snow that makes Sierra springs so great.

The scene over your shoulders is a sorry one. It shows that there's not a whole lot of snow above UBSL.

So, are congrats in order for MR Kent?

Cool. I like that photo!

Richard, yes, I summitted. So I guess that officially makes me member #2 in the Piotrowski club. Looks like you should have no problem maintaining your consecutive streak.

-Rick