Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Mountaineer's Route March 22-24

6 of us are doing the MR for the first time, two weeks from today. 3 of us from SF, 3 from Vegas. All guys in our early 30's.

This will be all our first time's on Whitney! We all have some degree of mountaineering experience. 2 of us are particularly experienced. We're all very active apart from our desk jobs.

3/22 Drive to Lone Pine
3/23 early start on the trail, camping at UBSL
3/24 early summit and hike out

Definitely an agressive plan with only 1 night of camping!

Anyone else planning a trip on or around that weekend? Would be great to connect on things like:

• how close can we get to the trailhead?
• snow depth (crampons only or definitely snowshoes too)?
• weather (3 season or must have 4 season tent)?
• overnight temps (0 degree or 20 degree bag? foam+air pad or just air?)
• condition of the gully and last 400
• avalanche risk
  
  

Thanks!
Scott

Can't answer very well, but for starters...

I am doubting snow shoes would help that much. The guiding companies take people up fairly regularly, so there should be a boot track.

Weather: You will just have to watch the forecasts. The weather page (link to the left) has good links to check. If weather is mild, 3-season tents would work. Otherwise...

When sleeping on snow, I'd say both foam and air. Maybe others more experienced will say something different.

Unless you head up in a storm or just after, you should be ok with avalanche risk.

Take pictures! I'll help you post them here.

trailhead depends on weather and how many boulders have dropped on the road between the "gate" at the bottom of the switchback and where the snow begins. Two years ago on April 1, we could drive around everything up to the snow which began well below the portal. Don't leave your cars up there unless the forecast is rock solid. Walking from the gate at the bottom of the switchbacks to the portal is a nice 90 minute hike. If you're not acclimated, that will give you a good sense of how fit you are. It will only get worse.

Snow depth - we used snow shoes up the North Fork up to about 12,000 feet on day 1, because the stuff was sloppy soft and you could not walk on crampons or just boots. Lower down it wasn't even easy on snow shoes. If you hit the area before sunrise on a cool day, you may be able to just walk up on crampons. Conditions are dryer this year - we were there following the biggest snow March ever and it was rather warm.

Tent - we had 50-80mph wind gusts at night, but the night before you could have slept without a tent. A 3 season tent may be fine if the winds are low, but how do you know that until you get up there? A decent bivy bag may be a better choice than a 3-season tent with flimsy poles. It's all about the wind, not the temps.

bag: a 0 degree bag will be much better than a 20F bag, unless you wear a down jacket and other layers in the 20F bag. I brought a -20F bag last time, but this time I'll do the 0F to cut some weight. I'd never even remotely consider my 25F bag.

ground pad - foam is fine, "just air" only if it is insulated

conditions? right now? Dunno - need to go up there to find out.

avalanche risk - don't go in if it has just dumped 2 feet of fresh stuff. Talk to the locals, check eastern sierra avalanche forecast site for overall risk. play it safe.

We'll be up there Aril 12 for the weekend.

Thanks everyone for your advice! We are headed for a 4am start tomorrow, Saturday. Should be cold and hard snow.

To the point above about parking a car outside the gate and walking up - is there any risk that your car will be towed here or anywhere along the road before the trailhead proper if you leave it there a day or two? I may be in the area and looking to give the MR route a shot in April (not sure exact dates yet)..

Every few years, the CHP will drive up and ticket every car parked above the road closed sign. I believe it was just last year a number of people got tickets. Nobody ever reported what the fine was. I think it was just before they were to open the road that this occurred -- perhaps the road clearing crews were annoyed with all the cars trying to drive past.

I have never heard of a car being towed for parking beyond the sign.

hello,
Have you read thread
"so you want to climb mountaineers route in winter"
If you have not check it out

ok thanks Steve/Mike.

Scott, how was the trip??

Scott's trip report is here: Mountaineer's Route March 22-24