Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Conditions on the Mountaineers Route

Can someone post the current conditions on the mountaineers route or share their latest trip photos of this route? There is plenty of information on the main trail but very little on Mountaineers route(north fork route).

I was hoping to do Mountaineers route after looking at Steve C's excellent videos: http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/topics/8177. But I did not realize that there would be snow at Mt.Whitney till early july which is when I am hiking. It would be great if anyone can post the current snow conditions on this route.

This was the latest one I could find:
http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/topics/13856/Mountaineers_Route_may_5th_and#Post13856

Here's one from May 28:

Mt. Whitney via The Mountaineers Route, May 2011

By early July you might be able to pick a route over dry rock in the steeper sections, but I'd hate to say that and hear you got to a place that required crampons and ice axe that you didn't have. I'm trying to say it would be risky to NOT take them, but then you might not need them.

Here's hoping for more reports....

I went up the Mountaineers route yesterday. The trail is snow covered from LBSL onward. Traveling is slow going after mid-morning, when the snow has been hit with the sun for a few hours, and we found ourselves postholing our way up the mountain. The coulier is 2/3rd snow covered, you'll need to take your crampons off to scramble up the last 1/3rd. The north face is 95% snow covered and many of the rocks are covered in black ice so the first couple of moves are a little tenuous, afterwards it's a straight and steep climb up the chute.