Hi Experts,

Me and couple of friends are planning to do Mt Whitney on 6/3 weekend. We already got permits. Our plan is to arrive and spend Friday night at Lonepine campground, then on Saturday hike up to consultation lake and setup camp, and set off early in Sunday morning to summit via the main trail. I have couple of questions and hope to figure them out and be fully prepared with your help:

1. One the summit day (Sunday), what is a good time to set off from constellation lake camp to summit? I am thinking 4am.

2. Will there be a lot of snow in the consultation lake camp? Do we need to have 4 season tent? Or if 3 season would work just fine.

3. What about temperature rating of sleeping bags? Is 20F good enough?

4. We will definitely bring ice axe, crampon, mountaineering boots. But how about snowshoes?


Many thanks in advance!
Steve

0. You need to sleep as high as possible for the acclimatization, so you would be better to go for the walk-in camp spots at Whitney Portal just below the trail head. They have never been full.

1. Once you are that high, setting off for the summit need not be before dawn. It should take 4 to 6 hours max to summit from Consultation Lake.

2. Yes, expect lots of snow. You may have trouble finding bare ground to camp on.

3. 20 F bags in a tent should be fine.

4. Saw one report where the fellow reported a terrible time coming off the summit, postholing forever, and wishing for snow shoes. But that was this month. In a few weeks, about a thousand people will have hiked through the snow before you, so there should be a well-packed cattle trail through the snow.

Thanks a lot! Sounds great!