New here and the first time in Mt. Whitney. Really thank the forum for very useful information. I am a kinda experienced hiker but not familiar with crampons/ice axes. This time I brought crampons, an ice ax, and hiking poles with snow baskets.
Ascend via MR.
-Patches of snow started after the first stream crossing. Both crossings were fine despite the high water level. But the second one was a bit confusing and took me about five minutes to figure out the right crossing point.
-E Ledge was fine. Not as scary as I thought.
-All snow after LBSL, got some water here thinking there might not be water source further up. But I did see some water sources on the trail around UBSL
-Iceberg Lake was completely white. Hit it by 9a. I was slower than I expected.
-Because the sun was high at 9, snow in the chute became wet and loose, took 2+ hours to get to the notch.
-Took a break at the notch. Then the final 400ft was easy at the beginning. The snow/ice mixture was in good shape (at least around noon). Then the last 1/3 suddenly became kinda sketch. Especially the last 30 ft or so, was literally a 70-80 degree snow/ice wall.
-In total, maybe ~20 hikers ascended from the main trail, 3 (incl. myself) up from MR, and one guy coming down from MR.
-The main trail between the summit and JMT was okay but some sections had high drift condition, was heavily used and narrow. But I saw hikers coming up/down through the main trail with microspikes or just hiking boots (def. not recommended!)
-Trying to find the entries to Mt. Muir but was not successful. Took a wrong path and went to a small hill after Muir.
-Only arrived Trail Crest by 4p, sliding down was sketchy and scary. It became better after I got used to a higher speed. It's all hard snow/ice mixture so it can cause some injuries. I got some skin scrapes on my arms and legs.
-There was water at Trail Camp
-Snow conditions all the way to Lone Pine Lake and a bit lower.
Things I could do better:
- I got too nervous about this trip so I did not sleep well the night before. Then on the hiking day, I drove to the trailhead without any sleep. I wish I could get more zZZ.
- Should eat/drink more/often during the hike. I was definitely dehydrated at some points. Every time after a longer break and eat/drink, I felt much more energized and could speed up significantly.
- Walking down took much more time than I thought. I have seen people reporting much faster time. But I might be too slow as I was physically and mentally exhausted.
- (should not have driven the same night back to LA)
