Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion White Mountain

Thought this information might be useful to folks here, since White is often a shakedown, training, or acclimatization hike for Whitney:

The 2020 open gate day originally scheduled for Sunday, July 26, has been cancelled due to the pandemic.
Not a surprise, but thought folks might like to know.

Lewis

I saw the same information on the WM Research Center website. But, interestingly, I also found a link (undated) to mammothtimes.com that says while the open house is cancelled, there will still be an open gate day on September 2nd this year. A phone call or two would be in order if anyone is seriously interested in driving to the Barcroft Station.

I think it was for September 2, 2018:
https://mammothtimes.com/content/ba...lled-year-gate-white-mountain-still-open

"Open gate day is Sunday, September 2."

September 2 falls on a Wednesday this year. Open gate days usually occur on weekends, so a Wednesday open gate day wouldn't make sense.

Thanks for posting, Lewis. A friend asked me last week about access to White Mountain and the road condition, so I made some calls, and reached a UC Research person. They said summer employees were not being hired this summer due to the hiring freeze and budget issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. All summer lab programs were cancelled, but a few ongoing projects would likely bring a few people to the Barcroft Lab.

That being the case, I am not sure who runs a grader over the road to ensure it is cleared up to the lab, but the road may be in rough condition this year. The person I talked to thought the road should be clear of snow to Patriarch Grove by now, but they weren't sure.

My bad on the dates. Should've looked at a calendar.

Does anyone know if the gate on White Mountain Rd is open at Schulman Grove? I called the Bishop Ranger station yesterday and they could not confirm if it was open however I have seen people post on IG White Mountain summit photos. I can not get a straight answer regarding the gate. Can someone here confirm if the gate is open? I do not want to make the drive only to get turned around at the gate. Thanks!

Sorry, I have no info about the gate, but I just thought it would be worth mentioning (for those who have not been there) that travel beyond the Schulman Grove is not without hazard. The roadway has many sharp rocks that can easily destroy a tire. Travel above 15 mph is not advised, so that while only 12 miles from the Schulman Grove to the Patriarch Grove it normally requires an hour to cover that ground.

Yeah, I can back that up with real data: That road shredded one of my tires two years ago.

Last year the road was in much better condition (they had to have done some work on it since it was SO much better than in 2018-like an entirely diffferent road). Hard to say how it is right now.

If the USFS people don't know, call the Inyo County Road number (760-878-0202) and ask. If they don't know, ask who "owns" the gate.
Please report back what you find out.

I've never been to the Ancient Bristlcone - I am assuming it is a paved road to Schulman Grove?

Does anyone know how many miles it is from the gate at Schulman Grove to Barcroft? Thinking about biking to the station on my mtb.

Thanks

There's a paved road all the way up to Schulman Grove. From then on, it's:
Mile 0 - Schulman Grove, paved road ends here
Mile 11 - turn-off to Patriarch Grove
Mile 15 - Locked gate
Mile 17 - Barcroft station
Mile 22 - White Mountain Peak summit

fit2climb, just so you know, the road is all sand & gravel, and it is all above 10k elevation. Biking it will put you to the test.

If the gate is open, you should drive as far as possible -- maybe reaching the gate before the Barcroft lab. I have ridden and pushed my mountain bike to the summit twice (20 years ago & without suspension!). The 14-mile round trip was pretty grueling!

I tried calling some Inyo County roads numbers, and a person I spoke to said he believes the gate is unlocked, but with a sign about proceeding at your own risk.

Edit: Got a call back from Inyo N.F. Public Info person (Deb 760-920-2347). She says you should be able to get to the Patriarch Grove access. After that, there may be snow drifts still -- there were a week ago. She also asked: If anyone goes and can report back, they would sure appreciate your sharing the info.

Thanks Big Pine for the mileage info.

Steve, I like to suffer so It'll be a challenge but well worth it. I'll park my bike at Barcroft and hike to White Mtn Peak. I don't have a four wheel drive vehicle so I may have to just park at Schulman. Thanks for the info!

I'll probably head up there next week.

I'll report back with any updates.

You don't need 4WD on that road, just drive slowly. Lots of regular sedans do it. The danger is running over a sharp rock (they aren't large), that might cut your sidewall. But most people and cars make it in and out just fine. Make sure you have a working spare tire.

The hike up and back or the ride up and back is not a walk in the park, since you start at 12k and go up to 14k. You should get as close as you can before starting the ride/hike -- at least this first time!

Hey,

I'm in the area this entire weekend so I want to explore as much as I can. On Saturday I'm going to an ice axe/crampon seminar to get the basics of snow travel down. I'm staying in Mammoth for the time being, but then heading to Bishop on Sunday to attempt Mt. Tom with a friend whose experienced. I have an inexperienced friend coming too, and I want to do White Mountain Peak and Dana with him. After Mt. Tom, I expect to finish at around 3 pm. Then I would wait for my friend to go up white mountain.

Thing is that the unpaved road seems a little sketchy. I have a spare tire, but it's my parents car and I don't want to mess it up. But at the same time, I want to set up camp not more than 11 or so miles from the summit because anything over a 22 mi round trip seems too excessive. We would leave Monday morning and hopefully be done by noon. Depending on how good we feel, we might stay there for Tuesday and head home or drive all the way up to Lee Vining on Monday evening and to try to do Dana via the trail on Tuesday. We need to be back ideally by Tuesday.

Do you think this is feasible?

- - - - - - - -

So I've been doing some thinking and this is my plan:

Sunday: Leave Bishop for White Mountain Peak at 5 pm *latest*. Drive up to White Mountain and drive as far as I feasibly can until sunset. I'm assuming I'll be around 15 mi from the summit conditions permitting. By that time it should be around sunset so 7 - 8pm ish. Then rest for a few hours and maybe sleep in the car.

Monday 12am: Start the hike and the 20-30 mi round trip from the car to the summit. I have no Earthly idea how long that would take us. But I just want to be back before summit conditions get iffy.

Monday (hopefully before 7pm): Set up camp since we'll be way too tired to drive. Enjoy the night sky.

Tuesday 6am: Drive back down well rested and hit up Dana on the way.

climby_climber: Like I wrote above, lots of people use regular sedans on that road. Just drive slowly--figure 15-20 mph. If you have to stop at the Patriarch turnoff, the 22-mile round trip is going to take all day... no way you would be done by noon. ...then again, if you start at midnight, maybe it is possible.

Your hike distances and start times are really pushing the envelope. You know your own limits, but beware that your "inexperienced friend" may not be able to keep up, so try to factor that into your plans. I hope you can get up the road all the way to the "Mile 15 - Locked gate".

Hiked it yesterday. Parked at locked gate 3 miles from Barcroft Station. Road and trail in great shape. Very little snow all the way to summit. Side trip to Patriarch Grove was better than summiting White.

Thanks for the trip report! Did you need to use any microspikes?

Any chance there's enough snow to practice snow travel with crampons and an ice axe?

There are a few recent pictures on Instagram of the ascent and summit of White Mountain Peak. Not much snow at all. From the looks of it, you won't need any kind of mountaineering gear whatsoever.