Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Autumn Weather on the Mt. Whitney Trails

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!

I wouldn't want to count on much beyond October 1. It really is a guessing game though and dates after that are certainly doable, probably in "most" years.

Heh! I once talked with a Sequoia N.P. ranger about the possibility of placing a weather reporting station at the summit hut. His reply was he thought it would be just "so much junk".

In the past, the Whitney trail has remained dry pretty much through September. First snows come sometime in October usually. The question, though, is how much. We have now had four dry winters, so the trail has been hikeable later than normal. If those October storms are light, you won't have any trouble.

Several years ago a guy hiked Whitney every week of the year, since the snow was so sparse.