Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Mt. Whintey Trail breakdown made by GIS and tentative plan

I found this website during my preparation for Mt. Whitney Trail day hike(June 1st 2014). It's very helpful to know the current trail conditions posted here. I made a map of the main trail for my group's reference. The base map is obtained from ArcGIS community. I'm not sure if the trail line is 100% accurate for current condition but might be a good reference for planning. No copyright is infringed.

Our plan is:
Leave Whitney Portal: 3:00 AM
Reach Trail Camp: 8:00 AM
Reach Trail Crest: 11:30 AM (Question: how to choose 99 switchbacks or the chute?)
Reach Summit: 1:00 PM

Current concern is the snow condition on the Chute. From a previous post, it looks like the snow will become very soft and dangerous after sunrise. Any insight provided will be appreciated.

Map at: https://sites.google.com/site/icewatcher2008/Home/hiking

To answer your question...

You ask those who went before you about the conditions at the cables. If they report it blocked, the chute is the only option. If you do not have a report, you will have to walk up to the cables to ascertain that information.

Snow is soft and dangerous? No, the snow is soft and a pain in the rear end because you are post holing.

Based on the most recent trail report, I think it is unlikely that the switchbacks will be a safe option. If you are hoping to summit, you should be prepared to use the chute with an ice axe and crampons.

After your trip, please come back and post what you find.

John Li, welcome to WhitneyZone!

The snow becomes hard, icy, slippery and dangerous when the sun disappears from the slope. When it is soft, there should be plenty of tracks to follow up and down. When the sun leaves the slope mid-afternoon, it can start to freeze and ice up.

Make SURE everyone in your party has the tools to navigate it if it is icy, and try to get down it before it turns hard.

The switchbacks still have too much snow to try.

Much appreciated. We'll arrived at the Whitney Portal a day before. Hopefully I could meet some groups make the summit and bring back much needed trail conditions.

Sure. I'll post a trail review. Look forward to what we'll see on the trail.

Hi Steve, thank you. Good to know that soft snow is not totally a bad thing. We trained ourselves on good quality snow at San Jacinto and San Gorgonio in March and April this year. But not quite sure about soft snow. We'll definitely be careful on the trail.

You saw different snow than I did this year. I had friends on San Gorgonio's northern slopes, who got a big case of pucker because the ice was impenetrable at top of the slopes. Most of the snow on the slopes was crunchy hard in the morning.

I had snowshoes out the first day and the following week because I was teaching people how winter mountain safety...the were not needed the second weekend.

It sounds as if you snowshoed rather than climbed with crampons and axe.