Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board A few questions on MR

Hi everyone, I have a few questions regarding MR. I am planning on heading over on Monday next and am curious as to how much snow is in the chute? I did MR last year at roughly the same time and there was a fair amount left. Also, wondering how many of you actually filter water out of Upper Boy. I have a pretty good constitution and would like to leave as much weight at home as possible. Can I just drink it without a filter? I am planning on one day to Upper Boy, summit the next day, then back to Upper boy and out the next day. Are bear cans necessary since I will be leaving my tent and such on summit day?

Thanks for all your help!

Showard

filter- personally, I 'd just drink out of the lakes inflow stream unfiltered, or, for no weight at all, just take some of those chlorine dioxide katadyn pills .They are tasteless.

bear can ? - has nothing to do with what you do with your tent, unless you take it all with you.

need bear can ? - I forget what the current rule is on MR (I went in 2006) , but even if no bear can required you should take it for other critters. The half-size BearVault is nice. The other option of hanging food may stop marmots but not mice. Ask me how I know.

I have made that MR trip just fine without a filter and without treatment chemicals.  Dr. Robert Derlet's studies have found lake water to be even more pure than streams, probably due to the solar UV action on the water.

I know a guy (wagga on this board) who hung his pack to keep the critters away, only to have a pack with mice in it next morning.  

Thanks everyone for the info. I saw an old post in June about the snow in the chute. Wondering what it is like these days. I now have to push my hike back a week and so am thinking there will be even less snow from July 20 on?

We were up the MR July 5-6. Drank from the streams no problem-the water is fresh and cold. Bear cans are not required on the MR (only recommended) but the critters might get your food if you don't have one. There was snow in the gully above Iceberg Lake-we had to crampon up part of the way. The chute (final 400) is clear on both sides with a little ice and snow here and there which you can get around. The walk-off looks like a death trap:) I glissaded from just below the notch all the way to the lake. Have fun..

Filters r not exacxtly heavy, we used one. As for Bear can, we took for the marmots, Ravens etc., I am told there r no bears that high up on that route by the rsangers, even lower boy scout probably has no bears. Loads of mice at Upper Boy Scout, we hung our rubbish off a ski pole of a high rock and that survived the night.