My daughter and I left Whitney portal at 2:45 a m on June 10, 2018. Arrived at trail camp at about 7 a m. Started up chute and were considering turning back when four people slid down at over 30 mph completely out of control. They fell over 1,000 vertical feet. Screaming, bouncing, did not stop til bottom snow pack. Head injuries, broken bones, hypothermia, among injuries. Helicopters took between 5 and 8 hours. Worst accident I’ve ever witnessed. Please please do not let summit fever cloud your judgement on this stretch of the whitney trail. If anyone has an update of these climbers please post.
I hope they are okay. The only positive side of these sad stories is that it provides a chance for others to learn from their mistakes. Here's a thread on this forum dedicated to Mountaineering Safety on steep snow/ice slopes:
Links: Safe Mountaineering
Hi Ellen, when you were there, does the switchbacks look like it is melting or anything close to being open by the end of the week?
After hearing this I am really nervous about the chute
Hope you had a good trip and glad you guys returned safely
Thanks
Unfortunately, the accidents are the same, only the names change. I have had 6 people slide by me out of control. All were doing things they should not have been doing. This why people continue to die in the same popular spots year after year in SoCal. I told a group of 4 two Aprils ago, not hike on a trail because it was too dangerous for Microjunk and poles at a spot where I had just decided it was too dangerous to climb. A few second later one fell and luckily latched onto a rock or he would have been the 5th person to die that winter in SoCal and the 2nd one on this section of trail.
If you are on that Chute and people are above you in your line of travel...tell them to move or you move, I tell people that all the time...and I am not subtle. You should assume most people on this chute don't have a clue. Lastly, go mid-week when there are not a lot people here.
Hi Twee
In response to your question about the switchbacks, I can only tell you that on June 10th the switchbacks were completely snow covered. Conditions up there change almost daily so keep checking more recent posts. For me, the chute is just too risky and other climbers above you may cause injury to others. Very risky. Better to wait for Terra firma. Hope that helps. Hike safe.
E
Maverick posted the text above from the Inyo County Sheriff's Office
post on facebook.Here are two pictures provided by Inyo SAR (click to enlarge)
You can see the cables section of the switchbacks in the upper right corner.
Twee,
There is nothing special about this Chute. It is very similar to Baldy Bowl and has all of the same problems. It is a straight forward poilet march or French step to the top. What complicates this climb is people who don't know what they don't know, the sheer volume of people and fatigue...six miles is a long way to go with 25 lbs. on you back if you are a day hiker and 12 miles before you descend this slope. I have done this in mid-May in a year like this year when there were no more the 6 to 8 people on the Chute both up and down. 3 of them did not have the brains they were born with...glissading and climbing with and glissading with poles.
This accident sounds like people were too close together and in the one another's line of travel. If you have proper separation an accident like this does not occur.
Here's a followup to that fateful day:
Foster City native honored for Mount Whitney rescue effortsA Foster City native and San Mateo High School alum has been honored for helping rescue three climbers after they fell 500 feet down a steep stretch of Mount Whitney.
Lt. Mike Wu, an off-duty marine investigator with the U.S. Coast Guard, Sector San Francisco, was accompanied by his colleague, Lt. Rachel Thomas, when the rescue occurred. ....
Also: video posted on Facebook of the people sliding out of control: by Stephen S
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.schneider.969/videos/1746826488726698/His main videos:
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.schneider.969/posts/1747914878617859