Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Mt Whitney current conditions

Kurt Wedberg posted a report on the Whitney Portal Store website here.

Here's one of his pictures:


It shows a group he was guiding up the Mountaineer's Route. This picture is in the chute below the notch. At the bottom, you can see the outline of Iceberg Lake.

Weather had been pretty stable and nice up to this past weekend. But with the weekend Big Dump, there are probably several feet of unconsolidated snow in the area, making summit attempts far more difficult. ...and potentially dangerous until avalanche conditions subside.

We were up the MR Saturday to LBSL. There were a few out of towners who where just a little pissy about being blown off the mountain after paying the airlines, rent-a-car company, motel and guide service a lot of bucks.

We also had someone tell us you will need snowshoes beyond 10,300' on the MMWT...obviously that has changed with the new snow.

As for Whitney Portal Road, the county in their infinite wisdom has added 4 boulders across the road at the most ignored sign in North America. However, there is a gap in the boulders wide enough to get a small truck through. The road itself was clear of ice and snow to the Meysan Lake Parking area. The rockfall is not all that bad this year...I've seen it a lot worse. There is one big-a$$ boulder that has to be seen but it doesn't impede travel in anyway.

There is still a lot of snow around. More than I thought there would be.