I'm wanting to do the L2H hike that ends at Mt. Whitney.
As it will go through the desert, I want to do it as late in the fall as possible, in order to get the best chance of lower temperatures in the desert.
But, I don't want to climb through deep snow up Whitney. Light snow is okay, but if I can't see the trail, then I'm probably not able to make it. I don't want to use snowshoes and crampons.
While I recognize there are no guarantees, I'm trying to guess the latest date that a walkable trail will still be found. It seems that last year, the trail was still totally fine on Oct. 18, but may have been snow-covered by Nov. 1.
MY QUESTION: Can anyone help me with this "timing" decision?
I have been unable to find any good weather data (especially snowfall data) at altitude for Whitney. I have found a nice 7-day forecast, but no *data* (i.e. what actually happened), except for posts by hikers at a very few random dates last fall.
It would help at this point if at least I could get some experienced Whitney folk to say "I think you'd have pretty good chances up until ____ (Month/Day)." I'm not going to complain if you're wrong, because I recognize that.
Thanks in advance!
Last edited by MarkGoldfain; 03/06/15 01:20 AM.