Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney Main Trail in Winter?

I notice that all of the winter hikes/posts are from the Mountaineer's Route. Is the Main Trail not accessible in Winter? (The cables snowed in?) I have not hiked the Main Trail to to the top, so I may be asking an obvious question for anyone who has....

B

There is a period of time, when the snow has accumulated, but has not consolidated, when going up the main trail is just a slog, even with snowshoes. Until they melt out, the switchbacks are not really usable, they are filled with ice. So, one has to go up the snow slope, which until it consolidates, can be a chest high slog. Basically this is not a trip that anyone would define as remotely fun. It would take many days to do. So, there is often a month or three when no one goes up. Because it is about twice as steep (on average), and much of it south facing, the MR consolidates faster, so it a better route.

Thanks, Ken. "Consolidation" only takes place when there is a melting of the snow = compacting? Does this mean that areas in other parts of the country (Colorado) where there is not a high enough temp for melting until late in the season, the snow does not consolidate (thus, remains unmanageable for long periods of time?)

B

Ken says it is "a slog". I'd say it is almost humanly impossible. If a group had a number of days, with more than two or three individuals to take turns breaking trail, then they might succeed. But it still wouldn't be any fun.

As for consolidating, I think snow settles some even without melting -- the air spaces can compress some, but only to a point. In the White Mountains Sunday and Monday, there was a north-facing slope that had obviously not seen any temps above freezing for several months. Stepping off a sled, we'd sink up to our hips. Trying to pack a trail took a huge amount of energy. We could compact the snow a bit, maybe 18 inches.

But in the worst places, the snow would NOT consolidate. There were several times that I'd try to get solid footing, but placing my feet side-by-side and alternate weighting and unloading each foot, the snow was like quick-sand. It just gave way under the weighted foot, only to spring back when the other foot weighted the adjacent area. Cold sugar-crystal snow would be impossible for foot travel.

The Mountaineers Route is so much shorter, so each step breaking trail is three times as effective as a step on the Main Trail route. And then, with so many people going that route, there is already a boot track to follow. Much nicer!

I've snowshoed to Trail Camp a bunch and it all depends on which winter you are talking about. We had a MMWT to the summit trip planned in January but canceled the summit as the destination after it snowed for the first time that winter a few day before the trip.

I have never planned an attempt on the summit in the dead of winter with snow about.

I will say, the most fun I've had in this area is in the winter and the furthest have gotten is Trail Camp. The MMWT in winter is a heck of a good time...more fun than summitting in prime time.

Ah, Consolidation is a very complex process, that I don't begin to understand well. Melting is potentially a part of the process, and it certainly is on the MMWT, where the daytime temps are so moderate. There is also sublimation, which is significant enough that the weather folks track it. Interesting to see how it varies, and temp varies in these time lapse records:

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/index.htm...y=1&units=e

In early Dec, the Sierra Snowpack averaged around 20 degrees. Now, it averages somewhere around 30 degrees (with local variation). It's heating up!

There are two primary sources of heat: solar radiation, which you know is present even on cloudy days, if you forget your sunscreen. Also, heat from the earth. Unless you are in a permafrost area, there is constant heat movement from the bottom of the snowpack. In addition, the snow surface changes. It falls white, but gets progressively dirtier, which absorbs more radiation, and then there are sastrugi, which apparently are part of all this, but which I don't particularly understand (local shadows reducing albedo?) Or, here is more than I want to know:

http://netfam.fmi.fi/SSS/pdf/Vihma.pdf

I once climbed Muir in January. We parked at the "Road Closed" sign and skied almost to Trail Camp the first day. It snowed 6" - 12" that night, so the slog up the slope to the right of the switchbacks was brutal. My partner turned around, and I tagged Muir (with 12" of fresh snow on it) by myself. We skied out that afternoon, reaching our truck in the moonlight.

We had originally planned to climb Whitney, so we came back in early March to finish the job. We more-or-less followed the trail except for bypassing the switchbacks, camping one night at Trail Camp. We skied from the summit to the "Road Closed" sign, but the heavy packs and breakable crust made for an unpleasant ski.

I also did a solo winter climb on Russell in mid March (a different year). I brought snowshoes and never used them.

Last year, I did Whitney, Muir, and Russell as a three-day trip in late April. I didn't bring snowshoes or skis. There were times when they would have been useful, but they wouldn't have been worth the weight.

If I were doing Whitney again in early season, I would take the MR.

Need to post these definitions:

Albedo: A number indicating how strongly the snow reflects light. (from Wikipedia)

Sastrugi or zastrugi are sharp irregular grooves or ridges formed on a snow surface by wind erosion and deposition (from Wikipedia)

Aw, heck! That takes all the mystery out of it!

Literally translates to "crap you have to walk on".

Time to start a new thread to collect items for the Glossary.

Errr...I can see that there is a whole lot more involved in the consolidation process than I ever hoped...

Another question: Can you give me a general summary as to what will happen to the conditions of the snow/trail between now and the time when just a few patches remain? I have no experience with winter hiking/conditions and I am sort of taking it all in vicariously. If there was no new snow, would the melting and freezing turn the trail into an ice block until the final melting? Would there be layers of new snow set on top of slippery ice? Are avalanche conditions set up when new snow falls on iced up areas?

Sorry for the ton of questions....

B

Bee, do you mean like this? The switchbacks in 1962 before the cables were installed, then opposite view post-cables. Talk about a scary prospect . . .

Doggie, that looks downright deathly!!! Thank you for posting this pic! (I thought the cables had been up since....the mountain was made!)(wasn't the mountain made some time in the '60's??)

B

"Another question: Can you give me a general summary as to what will happen to the conditions of the snow/trail between now and the time when just a few patches remain?"

The snow will slowly compact and go to a higher water concentration....meaning that it starts to act more like ice, than like snow. The south-facing aspects will go through this faster, then actually melt out first, due to the greater energy going into melting. Also, those areas surrounded by rock will melt faster, as the rock warms up, then continues to release heat later into the evening. Probably the worst place on the trail is at the Cables, where it is north-facing, and quite shielded from sunlight. Water drips down from above, and freezes into ice at night. Probably about the last ice to disappear from the mountain.

"If there was no new snow, would the melting and freezing turn the trail into an ice block until the final melting?"

Pretty much.

"Would there be layers of new snow set on top of slippery ice?"

As the layers melt and refreeze, they bond together. Right after a snowfall, though, your description is correct.

"Are avalanche conditions set up when new snow falls on iced up areas?"

Yes.

I'd love to take credit for courageously snapping it, but it's straight from Wiki. Besides, I hadn't been born yet in 1962! Well, not for very long, anyway. OK, "long" is a relative word in this sense.

Seeing that stretch without the cables scares the crap outta me. I don't particularly like it even with them. Makes me appreciate even more what Marsh dealt with in those dozens of trips up and down to build the hut 100 years ago. Oh yeah, and building the trail . . .

Just a note about the "cables" stretch. That section is relatively new. Built in the 60's? 70's?

The original trail went, I think, up to Whitney Pass, to the left of the current switchbacks, then along the crest.

That was replaced by the trail that was sited going up the slope to the right of the current switchbacks.

This was replaced by the final, current route.

Remnants of both of the older trails are still up there and visible.

Damn Bulldog, that really is a hard one.

Seriously, the cable area has ice on on it all year and you can get into trouble if you are daydreaming on between mile ~13 and 14. I've slipped once or twice in the summer going through that section.

Why did they keep rebuilding it in different places?

> Why did they keep rebuilding it in different places?

I am pretty sure they re-routed the trail to the earliest-melting zones on that slope.

Look at the picture below created by Bob R, a composite of 4 photos taken from Wotans Throne. From 2009-06-23 Wotans Throne (picture #30 in the set)

Near the top, you can see the old trail coming up and to the left from the major snow field. That trail would not completely melt out until late in summer. Note that the switchbacks now stay pretty much in the already-melted areas.

Click here to see the full-size picture.