Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mid to End February Whitney winter ascent via MR

Per Ken's advice after posting this in the winter section on this forum and getting not much response...here it is:

Greetings fellow climbers,

2 of us are planning a winter whitney attemp via MR during Feb this year. We are both pretty seasoned climbers, in very good condition. I have summitted whitney twice via MR, as a day climb, under 11 hrs RT.
We prepared for this trip last year, gear-wise and physical conditioning, but for logistical reasons and timing issues we passed up the winter climb and rescheduled it for this season.

What we are looking for is either another group already planning a trip so we can join efforts. Or 1 or 2 experienced individuals wanting to join us. This way we can guarantee that we have at least 3-4 people to attempt it mainly because i am not willing to solo it, and missing the trip this year after all my planning is not really an option.

The timing in Feb is not a major issue and is very flexible and possibly looking at the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th weekend in Feb.

We are planning a 3-4 day climb...so fr/sat/sun and maybe Monday.

Pressure to summit is not there....just out there to test myself and have a good time.

Anyone interested out there?

Hi Mafiose13,
I would be interested in joining you, but I can't do it in February. I could do it the weekend of March 8-9 and take an extra day on Monday if necessary. My main interest is ski mountaineering the MR with randonee gear in 2-3 days. I have all my own gear except for a 4 season tent. (I usually use my 3 season tent or my Megamid). I would bring crampons, ice ax, ice screws, rope, and snow pickets for the section above the notch depending on conditions. This section may be treacherous this year.
I also have no summit fever or death wishes. If the route is safe from the top of the couloir (notch) to the summit, I would ascend/descend with a rope and some protection. (rock anchors if the snow is soft, ice screws if there is solid ice, and snow pickets if the snow is consolidated) If the route looks treacherous, I will turn around at the top of the couloir and head home.

I can only go for the weekend so I'll head up Sat & come down Sun. Is your summit day Sunday?

Actually, last year, with the low snowfall has been the most dangerous I've seen the "final 400" in many years.

I'd much rather see a lot of snow covering the slope. A good boot track will make it a lot easier to climb vs. the choice of bullet-proof ice, or icy/snowy rock.

Agreed. It's a lot better with good snow. One thing that worries me is whether the latest snow will have sufficiently adhered to the slick ice that was there already. A few feet of new snow on top of hard slick ice could create a slide potential. That would be a very bad place to be if the surface slid off. I probably worry too much however.

As of now we are planning a Feb climb. If for weather reasons we end up delaying it until March, that would be a different story. But i will let u know, and I will try to give a specific date 2 weeks before.

Hey,

Given that we dont know how far down the road we will be starting, we are giving ourselves 3 days.

- 2 easy ascent/recovery days
- 1 long summit/descent.....and pizza day

So Friday, Sat and Sunday...is what we are looking at.
So far it looks like we have 3 in our group. We still need a 4th person preferebaly someone who has a 2 person 4-season tent. (but not in issue since renting one is always an option)

You are welcome to catch up to us if ur still doing a sat/sun climb.

It sounds like Sunday will be summit day. Since nobody can predict accurate mountain weather outside of 5 days, just pick a weekend a couple days in advance should be good for me. I'm not sure what your preference is regarding the weather but I don't mind heading up in marginal conditions. I'll be self-sufficient and try to catch up to the team on Saturday.

If conditions are unknown for the section after the Notch, I don't mind bringing gear to protect. I have 2 pickets, 3 ice screws and 8.5mm 60m rope.

One late season climb (loads of snow still) a number of years ago had me very concerned because of the "whumping" sound we heard on the way up the "final 400." The others agreed that we'd rap down one of the other gullies to the west and finish off on the Traverse. We saw others climbing much later in the day, but the slope held (no reports of anyone getting killed by an avi).

Ur more than welcome to catch up to us and join us on summit day and the descent. We can talk more more as it nears to coordinate things.

The additional ropes, and ice screws...etc, may or may not be needed. I have some of these things...but my friend who has summited a Feb whitney climb out of 3 attempts did not need any. But again we'll talk more as we near these dates.

So far the set date is Friday Feb 15th, weather permitting. If there is a need to and the forecast on monday-tuesday shows bad weather we will put it off until the next weekend.

Itinrary:

- Friday Feb 15th: Start day : early morning start (wherever on the road we will be)
- Saturday Feb 16th: We need to be camped as early as we can mid-day to early afternoon at iceberg. Recovery time.
- Sunday Feb 17th: Early Summit push & Celebrate my B-day on the summit.....descent back to camp at iceberg, pack and head all the way down.

oh and kevin .....marginal condition are ok by me. As long as we are not amidst a storm.