Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney

My wife and I are planning a trip up Whitney on September 1-2.
Put a lot of prep in and are coming from Michigan. Am beginning to become bit concerned about the smoke issues out there and am hoping we can do this trip. Any input would be greatly appreciated regarding the current condition out there.
Again, we're just concerned about Whitney.
Thanks a lot!

I think this thread has the most current info:
http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/topics/44062/Smoke_Coverage?#Post44062

Basically, right now there's a heavy haze and heavy smoke smell in the air.

In a week it may or may not be gone.

Edit: Although the webcam looks pretty clear today, so there is hope.

I, too, am coming from a distance (Colorado) this week and am concerned. Thank you to all who keep us updated.
I live about 5 miles from several 14er's (Princeton, Yale, etc,) and can't even see them today because of the WA & OR smoke.
No training today.

The link on the left side of the page "Mt. Whitney Weather" will take you to another page with several options for getting forecast. The NOAA - National Weather Service forecast includes Smoke forecast. You can see today's forecast at:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php...nit=0&lg=en

It only goes out 7 days but not sure any forecast is accurate beyond a few days. Nonetheless it is cause for optimism.

All the news in my area (Fresno, nw of Whitney), concerns the camps and structures the fire is threatening. Lots of manpower has been spent protecting a well used camp area around Hume Lake, and all the permanent buildings.

Several days ago, a very old Kings Canyon Lodge was completely destroyed.

The InciWeb links (in the other thread) show fire perimeter maps that are pretty obviously several days out of date, as the fire has made a major push southward into the Hume area.

The smoke is likely to be an intermittent issue until this fire is well under control, which is not going to be the case in the next week. It's currently only 7% contained and burning in steep and deep terrain making it more challenging to fight than the average wildfire. Whether or not smoke is a problem for any particular area downwind on any given day will be dependent on the wind direction at the time, and anyone who pays any attention to weather knows that wind direction can shift significantly within a few hours. If I had plans for the Sierra backcountry coming up, I'd be following the weather forecast daily.

Now at 17% containment.