Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports June 2nd. Only reached Trail Crest.

Hey guys. I just wanted to provide some info about the trail conditions. From the portal to trail camp, everything is almost 100% clear from snow. A few patches here and there.

The infamous switchbacks. We did not see anybody going up the chute so we followed everyone on the switchbacks. When we reached the cables, we saw a lot of of people turn around. We decided to keep going and to be honest, the cables weren't that bad although the pictures on the "current conditions" post make it look scary as hell. But then again, being clumsy would prove fatal. To us, the 2 or 3 switchbacks after the cables felt way more sketchier. The last switchback, the one that leads to trail crest had a lot of snow and we had to do some bouldering. We saw a ton of people, even a kid, going down the switchbacks without any gear. Just poles and and a lot faith. Just like me.

We reached trail crest at 1:50 and figured that by the time we reached the summit and back, the conditions would be really bad so we decided to end our ascend there. We went down the chute and the snow was slushy. Hard to slide down at times. My wife got small cuts on her arm from a few icy spots.

So what's the verdict? The switchbacks are doable without any gear but it's REALLY dangerous.

***Also, Dave from the Lone Pine hostel was clearing a bit of the snow from the cables with his ice axe. Good guy Dave. Go visit his store and give him a high five.***

Thanks for the update Robbo. We're going up on June 20th and have been watching the weather updates/conditions closely. I really appreciate your update AND Dave's help in clearing the snow.

Glad you adhered to Ed Viesturs' quote:

Getting to the top is optional...getting down is mandatory.

Thanks for the report Robbo. I'm quoting it in the Current Conditions thread.