Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board game plan needed for an April climb

my friends and I are contemplating an april climb. We do not have winter experience though we have done Kilimanjaro and have hiked up to Trail Camp in the summer. So I need a game plan please. We are coming from Vegas. What about driving from vegas and camping at portal for some acclimatization. Day 2, hike to trail camp and camp (maybe somewhere lower)? then Day 3 try to summit. or do people do it in one day in April?
Do you have any generalizations on gear (crampons, snow shoes, ice axes, etc) needed in April or is it really season specific and we need to wait till April to decide. Thanks so much, Marcus

My first comment would be to think twice about doing Whitney in April without any winter hiking/climbing experience. There is still a pretty good chance of significant winter storms this time of year. I had to cancel a Whitney trip in late April and early May last year due to severe winter storms. That said you will need to plan on crampons and ice axe as well as winter gear. Snow shoes will depend on conditions at the time. Doing the hike in one day could be difficult as well. Depending on weather camping at trail camp or just below first night and then summit the second day is a good plan. Being able to glissade back to trail camp considerably shortens the hike time back out. Get some experience glissading before you try it here. Do a search on this message board and you will find several good strings on the subject. Be safe and have a set turn around time on summit day that you are willing to abide by no matter what.

I think April is a great time to go, the waterfalls are usually gushing and the trails are clear of people. Unfortunately, April is also the most unpredictable time of year to plan a trip to the mountains. There might be snow, might not be. It might be 30 degrees during the day, might be 65. You'll really have to wait until closer to April to see how the winter season has progressed.

If there are no avalanche warnings and the weather forecast looks clear, go for it. Be prepared to adjust your plans if you run into trouble though and always be willing to turn around and head out if it looks really bad. (my disclaimer)

Some advice on equipment... If you don't have any winter mountaineering experience, all of that equipment is just going to get you into trouble. I mean that if you find yourself needing an ice axe to get up the Whitney trail you may be in over your head. I would stick with crampons and treking poles. If you find that you need an ice axe or snow shoes, it's time to turn around...

This is all just advice though, you'll have to make the call... Good luck and have a great trip.

Has anyone ever fallen to their death off the main Whitney trail?

Falling in free air to your death is kind of difficult to do on the main trail, Everest this is not. More like sliding or falling a short distance and hitting your head and dying. This is what happened earlier this summer to that elderly man who was climbing with his wife.

Thanks for the information Sierra! On an internet search I also found information that nearly every year people do die on Whitney, only it is cold winter weather that kills them- very few people fall, even on the more dangerous routes The fear of falling ensures I would never climb during Winter...

check out conditions on june 03 99, it was about 38 and clear in the morning. Dave http://community.webshots.com/photo/108935711/108937630PdhtNX

I forgot to say 38 and clear at portal that morning, a snow storm set in around 3pm, I could not feel my face in the matter of seconds. my brother in law and I set up a tent somewhere above mirror lake and trail camp and hiked out in the morning.

April up on Mt. Whitney is still in the heart of the winter.....very cold at night (like 0-5 degrees at trail camp). Also there is high avalanch danger up until the end of April.

Certainly you are talking winter cold weather and lots of snow...snow gear and snowshoes, ice axes, crampons and the like. Going can be very slow, like we did 500 verticle feet up a snowfield in 2 hours.

Ever consider waiting just a little longer...like until early/ middle May...Just another month can make it much better and lower the danger? It is still a winter experience but a little more forgiving.

A trip on may 5 2000 was easy to trail camp, and the straight shot up to trail crest without switchbacks made it even better (see pic). But a storm came in when we were about half a mile from the summit which forced us down, a glissade to trail camp was a winner even without the summit. That night we lost one of our parties tent with the high winds. http://community.webshots.com/album/108997220bfawUH

The above posts are right on. For pictures taken in April, May, and June the last couple of years (quite typical snow conditions for these months, in my opinion), go to http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908. Look at the albums beginning 2002-05-23, 2003-04-30, 2003-05-10, 2003-05-21, 2003-06-06.

If you go in April or May, you'll need ice ax and crampons, and very likely snowshoes. By late May you should be able to leave snowshoes behind, although you may punch through at certain times of day and some exposures. See the picture below, taken at Trail Camp on May 21 last year.

Your schedule of taking 3 days is very reasonable.

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Very nice picture again Bob, I'm getting the feeling that you are the resident know it all for Mt.Whitney. Do you live in the Lone Pine/Bishop area or do you just have a lot of free time to drive to your destinations?

One more question: how does one place pictures on this message board, is there an HTML bracket that has to be placed around the website address? I was hoping to link a great picture of Mt. Whitney to the message board that I came across, but everytime I preview my post the address shows up and not the picture.Or does the message board have something against Windows XP? Any info you can share would be much appreciated.

These are some pictures I came across on SP that show what an April climb up the MR looks like.
Thanks for the help Bob.
<img src=http://171.64.169.61/.sp/42942.jpg>
<img src=http://www.summitpost.com/images/51017.jpg>
<img src=http://171.64.169.61/.sp/43210.JPG>
<img src=http://www.summitpost.com/images/64992.jpg>

Thank you so much to everyone for their valuable comments. It is much clearer to me now what is required. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to post. Love the photos. Marcus

Marcus: winter can be a wonderfull time and as you can see in the pictures...quite spectacular. However you need to have good winter clothing and gear that will keep you warm....(I spent a few hours shivering in my Zero degrees sleeping bag up in the snow this last May because my clothes eventually got wet). Travel can be slow if the snow is deep or if you sink in a lot. Thus 3 days would seem essential to have time to make it.

If you go, make sure you have clothes that will keep you warm and dry, a good tent and the equipment to travel safely. Be observant of the slopes around you to minimize Avalanch danger.

Having said all of that....snow gives the mountain a beauty you never get in the summer when all is dry.

Thanks for the advice, as for gear, that is the one area we are well covered. We bought high end gear for our Kilimanjaro trek, it gets to about 10 F or -10C on Kili (though the altidude (19600ft) makes one much colder than the same temp lower down). Also, I am from Canada and used to the cold. Great thing for us Canadians is we have great Mountain Equipement Coop stores with all the gear including great winter gear all year round....
We do not have any avalanche experience, nor crampon, ice axe, experience. The above advice on this board has been great. I have played with idea of hiring a guide! While I know many people would laugh at this, it would really be someone to teach us technique and help us not get to agressive... maybe the best solution is to get some lessons on techinque over the next 2 months.
Again thanks to all for any comment / advice.