Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Outpost and Trail Camps night temps?

Just curious if anyone knows what the overnight temperatures have been at both camps lately. We're going up on 9/30, and would like to get an idea of what they are at least up until that time. Thanks, everyone!

Twila,

I just came down off the mountain Friday morning 9/19 after my first summit. Wednesday night we spent at Upper Crabtree Lake elevation 11,312' and I saw a low of 27 degrees. Thursday night we spent in one of the stone shelters just below trail crest elevation 13,330' and saw a low temperature of 19 degrees.

I saw your post about the bear canister. I packed food for one person/5 days and came home with food. I also repackaged everthing in baggies. I see you mentioned Mountain House. If you have not tried them before I would suggest sampling anything you take before hand. I did San Gorgornio two weeks ago and managed to get down a Mountain House Lazania (sp). I tried one of their beef stews before Whitney, the garbage disposal loved it, but then that's only me.

My Whitney summit was only my second backpacking trip, and I loved it. Five days and about 45 miles, a good portion of that cross country.

Have a great hike.

Arlan

The weather channel is predicting the highes and lows in town on September 30th to be about 87 high and 50 low. Taking off 3.5 degrees for every 1000 feet, one could guess a high low at outpost camp (10,300) to be about 66 high/29 low. At trail camp (12,039 feet) it would work out 7 degree colder at 59 high/ 22 low. That will give you someplace to start. Trail camp is often more windy which makes it feel colder.

Thanks for the temperature report, Arlan. A bit chilly, was it? I trust you were able to stay warm enough to not be uncomfortable. / We have tried the Mountain House foods before and found them to be the best out of all of the freeze-dried foods. I know, the lasagna doesn't LOOK like lasagna, but it is a hot meal at least. Haven't tried the beef stew yet, but I know the beef stroganoff and chili mac is pretty darned good. / Thanks again for the info!

Thanks for doing the math for me, Andrew! I've been watching the in-town weather reports, too, and had an idea that it was going to be a little on the cool side. I'm lucky the cold doesn't bother me that much. Living in Las Vegas, one tends to appreciate the cooler temps occasionally...

Use the California Water Resources Board's Cottonwood Lakes and Crabtree Meadow Reporting Stations. They give you the hourly temperature and do have historical data for about 15 years.

Bill

Thanks, Bill. I'll be sure to check out that site for the current and historical data. (Gosh, what did we do before the internet?)