Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Road

Hi Walked up to the campground today , snow on the road again just above the road closed sign and heavy around where the BIG ROCK is. Thanks Doug

Thanks Doug.

We appreciate getting information from reliable sources. I'm heading south 'cause I'm tired of walking up that road.

When will we be able to ask for rides up on the snowmobile?

Thanks Doug, will be curious what it's like around St. Patrick's Day. Luck o' the Irish might melt the road a bit?

Yes Doug, thanks for the update on road conditions. I'm curious to see how they handle that BIG ROCK when the time comes to clear it. Perhaps some good old TNT...

Doug said it best last spring-



Which means, prepare to hike from the bottom. Feel lucky if you get to drive part way up. Feel sad if you do drive part way up and your car either gets trapped until Memorial Day or squashed by an avalanche.

And, I'll remind the IDIOTS: You can't park on the pavement! (Still pissed at the real AH from last year who boxed me in to my legal spot on the gravel with his car on the pavement.)

I've never been to Whitney so I'm curious of the road. I'm gonna head out that way between Mar 17-20. Weather permitting, I'm gonna take a stab at the MR route (with some others). I've read about this road closed sign. How far from this sign to the trailhead? What's the rock? Have I read people drive around this sign if road is clear? Emphasis on if the road is clear. Again, weather forecast (per accuweather) is looking good, so just wanted to clear up how much this could add to the trek.

Cheers,
-PM

I do believe it is 3.5 miles from the road closed sign to trailhead. So, 7 miles round trip if you have to hike the whole thing. Yes, you can drive around the road closed sign and drive as far up the road as conditions permit or as far as you dare. The BIG ROCK (quoting Doug) is a giant boulder that landed in the middle of the road when we were up there the second weekend of Jan. The top 20% busted off on impact and slid across the road another 15 feet. As I recall, there was room to drive between the two pieces assuming you're not already on foot by then. Standard risks of driving up the road in winter apply: small chance of getting a ticket, getting snowed in, having another rock come down and block the road, having a big rock come down on your car, an avalanche coming down and blocking the road (happened last year) etc.

Good luck, have fun and be safe!

Brandon

The "Road Closed" sign is at the 6K' level, and the Portal is about 8.3K', so much of the additional effort is in the elevation gain, not the miles. Maybe someone can tell you the exact mileage, but I think it's about 3 miles.

While rock can (and does) break off and land in the road in many different places, there's one especially heavy rockfall zone. It will be obvious when you walk up the hill.

There's a big pullout just below the "Road Closed" sign - plenty of room to leave your vehicle.

I was up there this past Sunday. At the bottom of the hill where the ROAD CLOSED sign is, a string of large boulders have been placed across the road as well as a chain. The message is quite clear. There was also an Inyo Ranger sitting there in his truck. He said the County would try to open the road by the end of April or possibly May, that decision being dependent on the weather.

Thanks for all of the good info on the road. Good to know. So, it sounds like the smart thing is planning on the extra 3 - 3.5 miles to the summer TH.

PM

tdmorgan79, you were requesting some beta on the road conditions...

As of our trip (Mar-10 thru 13), the road is still technically closed and full of rock debris. However, if you are careful, you will likely be able to get up to the snow line at the portal with a car, if you choose. There were quite a few parked up at the portal, but I'm sure you know the risks in doing so.

For our group, we left our cars/trucks at the pull-out at the bottom near the road closure sign and huffed it up Thursday night after finding too much ice after the switchback turn during a scoping run with one of the trucks. However, by Sunday most of that ice was gone. On our way down, we dropped packs at the portal and walked down to grab a truck to drive back up and pick up our packs. Careful navigation is needed for the boulders in the road but you should be able to make it up without issue -- we saw multiple cars able to make the ascent up the road that Sunday morning. That can all change though, especially with warm conditions and the added rockfall and of course if a new storm moves in this weekend with precip -- all factors to consider.

Though I wouldn't necessarily recommend leaving your car up there during an extended trip, I would suggest using a vehicle to drive up to the portal to drop off packs and then walk up the road if you can. That isn't cheating, right?

As I'm sure you've seen in Kurt's topic, exercise caution about leaving anything in your car/truck that might be tempting to thieves while you're away. It's really unfortunate (AND infuriating) that this is even a consideration in such a small, close-knit climbing town, but I'd hate to see any other climbers become victimized. Ugh.

Have a safe trip!
--Ben

Thanks so much, Ben! I'm planning a one-day ski ascent/descent for sometime next week, depending on weather. Right now, Wednesday looks like the best option.

Again, thanks for the road beta!

- Taylor

Hi The rocks were removed about 2 weeks ago so what is on the road now is the melt cycle starting.Expect more rocks every day. The snow on the road is very soft now and expect to post hole knee deep ,I was up Tuesday night and at 9 PM it was 56 degrees in the Portal. Winds have been strong so expect more wind with the fronts moving through. Thanks Doug

Thanks for the info, Doug!