Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Planning my first Whitney ascent.

Hey y'all.

I've been planning on summiting Whitney for a couple of months, and i'm looking for advice, experience and help. I'm looking to do this in late January or early Feb. I'm planning on taking the Whitney Trail, and plan on doing the trip solo. The trip will be a multi-day backpacking trip.

I have little mountaineering experience, but lots of experience with solo camping, hiking, and some experience with hiking in snow, ice and snowshoeing. I'm 25 and in the best shape of my life. I run 8 miles a week, and hike 8-13 each weekend. In the past weeks i've done San Antonio (No snow) and Cucamonga (1-2ft of snow). I'm going to do Baldy again tomorrow. I want this to be my first serious mountaineering trip, but not my last.

As far as gear, i'm currently piecing it all together. I've got about 1/3 of what i'll need. I plan on getting practice in with crampons and an ice axe.

Here's what i'm looking for -

Your experience with camping at 10-12k feet in in these months. What should i be prepared for, aside from the obvious? I expect to see temps in the -10 to +5* range at night.

Your experience summiting in the winter months? What should i be aware of?

Am I being reckless in planning this, particularly solo?

Another question, as far as gear is concerned, i've been going off of this. It seems to be pretty comprehensive. What do you think?

Sierra/Colorado Winter Mountaineering Equipment List
    from: American Alpine Institute Winter Mountaineering in the Sierra

kmr: First thoughts: Be sure to get some experience with all the winter gear. If you do this trip, don't go any farther than you feel comfortable. A first time might be a good trial run with the idea of repeating later.

The road is closed off down low. It will take a few hours hiking up the road just to get to the trail head.

Also, in winter, practically anyone who summits does so via the more direct Mountaineers Route. The Main Trail is more round-about, and if you are breaking trail through snow drifts, the distance makes a big difference. In fact, if you might wait until Feb or even March, quite a few guided groups will be going, and will leave a boot track for you.

There is an old thread in here somewhere of a guy who tried winter camping. I'll try to find it later.

Thank you for the quick reply, Steve!

I definitely plan to get comfortable with my gear prior to use. I plan to camp at in snow at least two weekends in January.

I planned to do Whitney Trail because of my lack of experience. If I could get a group of guys together who know what they're doing, I'd definitely be down to do the MR trail. I'm also willing to push the trip back. I'm eager to learn.

Thanks again - Kyle

Kyle: Good to know you intend to get in some practice with the ice axe. Here's an exercise for you:

You are traversing to your left across a 62% slope on 6" of fresh snow on a consolidated base. Suddenly, as you plant your left foot, your footing gives way and you pitch outward from the slope, land on your back, with head downhill and feet above you, and you begin to accelerate. Move by move, what happens next? For extra credit, what happens between the time your footing collapses and you land on your back?

In reading your request, the first thing that struck me was a lack of winter skills.

The yak trail is anything but in the winter. It is serious business requiring high end basic skills. Basically, the ability to know what deep Bandini is before you are in the middle of it and self arrest skills.

You say you have done Cucamonga Peak in 1' to 2' of snow. I am assuming it was a walk up the trail. This means you walked right through an avalanche zone between Ice House and Cucamonga Saddles. My friends and never take that route in winter conditions...it is not safe. It is up and over Bighorn Ridge to Cucamonga Saddle then up the ridge from the 2nd switchback. You mention axe and crampons but not a helmet...something you will really need, especially if your going to join forty new conga line friends in Baldy Bowl on the weekends.

You need to be able to recognize what gear you need and when it needs to be used. That comes with experience. That comes from being around people that know what they are doing.

What I would do is head up to Bishop and take a basic snow skills course from one of the guiding services.

Lastly, I would discourage you doing this as a solo this time of year. Two, three or four brains are better than one climbing.

Hmmmm...you should not see this went it when is done without an axe and crampons, like I did 10 days ago. It ain't pretty. Someone got very lucky...no free helicopter ride required.

Kyle:
I couldn't find the winter hike report I was thinking of. Links are broken. But what I recall is that the fellow made it up to Lower Boy Scout Lake. That is as far as he went, due to snow depth and the cold.

Camping overnight in icy conditions in the snow is definitely a different experience from summer backpacking. I've only done it a couple of times, and can say I really dislike the cold -- too many times, numb fingers or feet required lots of extra attention.

Be sure you take on this big adventure a step at a time. There are places you can camp out in snow on the SoCal mountains, and I would recommend trying that to see how comfortable you are with your gear. I'm not familiar with locations and routes -- maybe wbtravis can name some.

The message i'm getting (from this and one other board) is loud and clear. Don't do it alone, or without experience.

Honestly, I'd love to find an experienced group of guys who'd be willing to take me under their wings. I have an honest desire to learn, and to grow.

Until then, where would be a good place to develop winter skills, and familiarize myself with gear?

It was also suggested that I first try to make it up to Trail Camp to familiarize myself with the area and conditions, without plans to summit.


Thank you guys for your support thus far. I appreciate it.

Sierra Club Wilderness Training Course is a good start, if you do not have friends with skills. Also, the aforementioned guiding services in Bishop for a basic snow skills course...it was the best $125 I have ever spend on winter stuff.

Another good place once we get snow, is the San Jacinto Hiking Club Meetup Group. Once it snows, take the conga line to Mt. San Jacinto with 30 or 40 of your newest friends. Once it snows this group plays in it every weekend. I take a group out every winter through this group...look for Winter 101 B.

You crawl before you walk, walk before you run. It took me four years before a felt comfort with my skills to overnight at Trail Camp and go up the Chute to the summit in May of a mild winter.

I have witnessed 3 climbing accidents in the local mountains. This is serious business, one that produced multiple free helicopter rides.

KMR: Check your PMs.

You can do it alone, just don't do it without experience.

I think the best place for you to develop those skills is on San Jacinto. Plenty of spots to camp regardless if you head up to Round Valley from the tram or Little Round Valley from Idyllwild. From the tram, you have an easy (easier) "escape" if you feel that you are in over your head. It gets cold up there just like the Sierra. You can start off on a sunny day with snow on the ground or as your skills and confidence grows, you can weather 100 mph gusts and subzero temps. Start there and see how you deal with the cold, with postholing for a few thousand feet, the winds, etc. As your experience and fitness grows, you'll find that offtrail routes on the north side of that mountain are far harder than anything you'll probably do on Whitney.

I was waiting out several small storms on the North Fork of Whitney once and I can tell you that it was not pleasant getting out at night and clearing the snow around my tent as the snow accumulation was caving in the sides of the tent. My breath was freezing and condensing on the walls and falling down on my face as ice crystals when I slept, my leather boots froze stiff from the sweat, trying to cook in the tent was a pain when it's tight and you don't want to die from the fumes, etc. On top of that, I had a small critter running around in this storm trying to, and successfully, chewing a hole in the tent. The forecast before I left home was partly cloudy for one day. Fun. :-) S**t happens, make sure you're prepared for the bad/worst case scenario.

Take up wbtravis' advice and join one of the local groups. There are plenty of experienced people to befriend and learn from. Good luck.