Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Mt. Whitney Trail Conditions, Portal to Trailcrestish, 4/13

Hey all; had a great hike on Sunday up from the Portal to just beyond Trail Camp. Surprised to see almost no people (what the!!!), but great conditions, other than the snow melting out faster than I'd like.

If you want, you can read the full TR here: http://last-adventurer.squarespace.com/l...il-april-8-2013

Summary: serious snow from 10K up; solid in the morning; super slushy midday and melting out fairly fast. Trail is clear to Lone Pine Lake, crampons/ice axe needed in chute past Trail Camp. Good times!

Thanks for the report, LastAdventurer!

> Surprised to see almost no people (what the!!!)

It's only April, man!

Thank you for the report. My wife and I will be on Whitney June 28th, so I'm keepin' an eye on it.

we were all on the Mountaineer's Route

Conditions there are about the same - good snow above 10,500 feet and solid before noon, after that the occasional chest deep post hole moment becomes more likely. The ledges are dry and only very little snow is found along the North Fork, then above LBSL you need to deal with snow on and off until you hit Iceberg Lake, where snow goes 3/4 up the chute. Iceberg and Frog pond still frozen, liquid water hard to find above 11,300

Grass is starting to grow at the lower elevations, and some flowers are beginning to sprout, too. Very quiet at the portal still, probably because the store is still closed.