Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum February summit attempt via MR

With more precautions and safety in mind....we are still headed up and so we we will still be up in the area. Friday early AM....until possibly Sunday evening if things go as planned or before if some heavier weather sets in.

Based on the weather here in Fresno (cold wind, rain and hail) plus the 30 inches snow forecast for Mammoth, I think the heavier weather is headed that way.

Stay warm!

Here it is:

Just made it back home.

What a weekend...to say the least.

After conflicting weather reports and forcasts. We decided there is no better way to know what is goin on on the mountain than to actually be there.

So off we went. Took off at 8 am from Bakersfield on Friday 22nd Feb, got to lone pine at 11 am. Picked up a permit. Bought a couple of last minute items.
(ranger advised us not to be on the mountain because they are expecting a BIG one friday evening, Sat all day and most of Sunday...so did the hiway patrol that was filling up gas at the same gas station we filled up at)
We parked a few hundred feet BEFORE the road closed sign, next to 2 cars that were parked there around noon. I am not sure how far it is to the portals from there, but maybe a mile before we got to the portals there was a road sign that said next 4 miles rock slides. So i am assuming we were parked about 5 miles down from the portals. Weather was "OK"...it was snowing heavily. no wind.

On the way up the road, we met a guided group of 4, who had to turn back from upper Mountaineer gulley after beeing hit by a blizzard. Our plan was to push to Lower boyscout Friday, staying within safe distance, but we were discouraged by this guide. We decided to spend the night at the portals.
As soon as we set camp, the snow stopped, the sky cleared!....too late to pack up and keep going up. We decided to stay camped and head out in the am and try to reach Iceberg lake. It was cold....dunno how cold....but in the morning around 7 am...my casio thermometer registered "error" since it only works down to 10F.
The morning was clear and sunny. We headed up. The trail was pretty much unbroken, the snowfall from the day before and early evening had covered it, and you can barely make the trail. Right before the ledges it start to cloud up, the wind picked up. We were spooked by a hanfull of snowslides off the ledges, nothing really dangerous but enough to alarm you. Half a mile before reaching LBS, we were about knee deep. Through LBS ....same. Winds were gusting high, visibility was very low, heavy cloudset, and heavy snow fall. We stayed on higher grounds through LBSL, off of what you can barely make as trail....and up to UBSL...no trail was visible...and what a struggle that was. Very powdery snow and wind blowing in our face.

With these conditions in mind, we decided it is best to turn around and head down.

Right when we got to Below LBSL the wind died down, but light snow fall continued, as more an more thicker and darker clouds continued to move in. It was so thick ....that even at LBSL we could no longer see the far end of the valley. We met a group of 3 going up half way down the NF, that was attempting to reach upper boyscout...and make a summit bid the next day. (we advised them of the conditions).....then before the NF/Main trail split off we saw the group that was camped next to us at the portals, on their way up (probably for a short dayhike to LBSL).

Even downill was horrendous, the snow was so soft, i think i took about half a dozen slips on the steep areas.

We made it to the portals, picked up a few items we had left there, and carried on back to the car.

The more we looked back the more clouds were covering the mountain, by the time got to Lone pine, all you can see from Whitney were the foothils....beyond that a gray raging mountain.

It was not the weekend i had hoped for, but with good judgement we made a very good time/experience out ot it.

I wish all those that were there....or still may be there a safe return home, it was looking pretty bad.

Wow! What a trip. I canceled plans to join the party of three that you probably encountered. I hope they make it back to safety.

Great trip report - thanks for posting. I wondered about how you all were doing with storms seeming to live up to as predicted. Timing is everything and sometimes it can bite you in the .... behind. It will probably take a few more days now for the mountain and snow to settle down.

how do i upload a picture to this posting?

ANOTHER TRIP IN THE PLANS:

Tentatively weekend of MARCH 7-8-9

Same itinerary, or even shorter, Anyone interested?

> how do i upload a picture to this posting?

They must first be uploaded to a picture storage web site. Then you can put a link to the picture in your message.

Here is V. Fred's set of instructions: Adding picture images

We were up there 2 weeks ago Feb 22/23 during the big storm that hit the area, we had to park a few hundred feet before the Road closed sign.

Does anyone know what the current conditions are on Portal Road? How far down (or up for that matter) can we excpect to park?

My guess would be that we can get at least a mile or more past the road closed sign...we have had 10 days of pure sun and warmer weather. But eyewitness accounts would be appreciated.

We will be in the area this weekend Sat/Sun.

Thanks

Just wanted everyone to know that we had a beautiful weekend.
Summited on 03/09/2008 @ 11:35 am.

Congrats! It was a beautiful weekend, for sure!

-L

Congratulations to Mafiose13 for summiting recently. Not only did you do it, but you made two attempts, including the one in February when the storm rolled in. You have the respect of a great many of us who would like to also reach the summit during the off season.

Thank you for sharing your account with us.

ellspops

Hi mafiose13

Just read both of your TR's. Big time congrats! Great that you went back a second time and summited on a good weekend. What is that saying..."If at first you don't succeed, try again"!

MC