Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Lamarck Col conditions

Hey all, I'll be doing the North/South Lake loop in a couple weeks and was curious about the snow conditions on Lamarck Col. Trying to decide whether to take the Col or do the long way up Piute pass. Any info would be greatly appreciated! Also if anyone knows the conditions on Mt. Agassiz tha would be great - I'd love to climb it but don't want to bring extra gear haha.

in early Aug 2013 the east side was a pitiful remnant of itself. Just dirty gray slick ice, no snow.

We went up totally on rock to the left, far different than usual for Lamarck. There was even a visible trail exposed by the melted out conditions on the top 50 ft or so. I had never seen that on three trips before, so sometime in the past, there had also been dry, warm years-in-a-row without invoking end-of-the-world-scenarios.

This year with another consecutive low snow year, it should be similar, I would think. (although..... you will be there 6 weeks ahead of our schedule)

The Evolution ranger uses Lamarck as a shortcut rather than Bishop Pass. Try calling the ranger station in Bishop to see if they have beta.

There is still a couple of feet of snow at the top of Lamarck Col as of today. Hard pack in the mornings, turning to post-hole gunk by 10 AM. Much of it will melt in two weeks, but be prepared for lots of slogging, especially since Lamarck is at 13,000.

Paiute Pass is melting rapidly and should be no problem. Lots of hikers have gone over, leaving a nice trough through the remaining snow.

This morning I spoke with a JMT hiker coming out to Bishop to resupply, who decided against continuing. He had been in two feet of snow on the approach and descent from Bishop Pass (12,000). He said Muir Pass was not too bad since it is an East-West pass that gets a lot of sun.

The Class 2 route on Agassiz still has snow as of today.

If you decide to use Lamarck Col, be sure to carefully read the route description in the Secor guide. The use-trail to the Col begins below Upper Lamarck Lake - cross the outlet stream from the lake. Above all...DO NOT attempt the obvious snow-filled slope above Upper Lamarck Lake - it is a big boulder trap.

Wow, thanks for the beta! That was immensely helpful. Thanks for the warning about Lamarck too - I've been researching but have never done the route. Sounds like we'll want to time it to get the best snow!