Mt Whitney Current Conditions

Regional discussion and conditions reports for the Golden State. Please post partners requests and trip plans in the California Climbing Partners forum.
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clmbr

 
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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Thu Feb 26, 2015 2:25 am

My preferable conditions. :) It looks like you had a lot of fun as well as only two of you attemptedth the summit. Nice!

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Kurt Wedberg

 
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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by Kurt Wedberg » Thu Feb 26, 2015 4:46 pm

clmbr wrote:My preferable conditions. :) It looks like you had a lot of fun as well as only two of you attemptedth the summit. Nice!

Yeah we had the mountain to ourselves. It was pretty sweet :). We're looking pretty strong for a storm to add some more accumulation this coming weekend too. We'll see what it brings.

Btw, I love your cover photo of you camped up on Columbia Crest. I guided on Mt. Rainier between 1991 - 2006 and have a lot of fond memories of that mountain. I used to love guiding climbs with enough days that allowed us to camp on the summit. It's an epic experience and the view is awesome. Good on ya!!

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:02 pm

Kurt Wedberg wrote:. . .
Btw, I love your cover photo of you camped up on Columbia Crest. I guided on Mt. Rainier between 1991 - 2006 and have a lot of fond memories of that mountain. I used to love guiding climbs with enough days that allowed us to camp on the summit. It's an epic experience and the view is awesome. Good on ya!!

Perhaps we have met on Rainier in the past. I often talked to the guides on Rainier; they were real mountaineering guides, with experience and nice (unlike nowadays in many cases :( ).

I’ve seen sometimes tents in the crater. However, I always wanted to camp on the true summit. Unfortunately, there was no one to take a picture of me, so I took a picture of my tent instead :)

By the way, the first time I climbed Rainier it was in1997 and my first solo attempt was in1998. (Till now it was supposed to be a secret.)

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Kurt Wedberg

 
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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by Kurt Wedberg » Fri Feb 27, 2015 4:01 pm

Yeah we very well could have met on Rainier. I used to enjoy talking to the various folks climbing on that mountain.

I seem to recall back in the late 90s a special solo permit was required. Do you remember what you had to do to get a permit for a solo climb on Rainier?

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:15 pm

I think the Solo Climb Permit is still required.

For the first few years I applied directly at the Climbing Ranger Station; they asked a lot of questions. Then (as they asked me) I started applying by fax and finally by email. They have a form to download on the NP website.

The questions are mostly related to glacier traverse experience, winter expeditions, and mountaineering survival skills.

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Kurt Wedberg

 
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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by Kurt Wedberg » Wed Mar 04, 2015 2:12 am

Interesting. I guess not a lot has changed. I've heard they don't allow guided parties to camp on the summit anymore which is a shame. I used to use that as a great opportunity to give some great experience of what it's like to be on Denali. A winter Whitney trip can offer the same experience though :). It also allowed for enough time to explore the steam caves. Did you ever explore them?

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:33 pm

I don’t know many people who camped or even wanted to camp on (or near) the top of Rainier, Shasta or Whitney (not to mention in unfavorable conditions). For me it’s an important part of mountaineering experience, training and survival skill.

As of steam exploration, I never done that; although, always wanted but not solo, too risky. I heard some people had to be rescued because their cloths got wet inside and it was freezing outside. But to be honest, once on the top, I never remembered about them.

BTW, sometimes it was impossible to camp in the crater of Rainier due to large and very hard icy pinnacles covering its whole surface except the snow path leading to Camp Muir.

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by Kurt Wedberg » Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:07 pm

clmbr wrote:I don’t know many people who camped or even wanted to camp on (or near) the top of Rainier, Shasta or Whitney (not to mention in unfavorable conditions). For me it’s an important part of mountaineering experience, training and survival skill.

I'd agree with you on that. I'd rather do it when I know a storm isn't coming in however I've camped up there with steady 60+mph winds. It's great experience getting up there and having to set up tents and secure a camp with big winds. We then built walls around the tents. It was great fun and adventure :)

clmbr wrote:As of steam exploration, I never done that; although, always wanted but not solo, too risky. I heard some people had to be rescued because their cloths got wet inside and it was freezing outside. But to be honest, once on the top, I never remembered about them.

The steam caves are pretty darn cool. If you find yourself up there with time to explore again I'd highly recommend it.

clmbr wrote:BTW, sometimes it was impossible to camp in the crater of Rainier due to large and very hard icy pinnacles covering its whole surface except the snow path leading to Camp Muir.

That's where a good saw comes in handy to cut blocks. In Antarctica the "snow" on Mt. Vinson is more like ice. A saw becomes much more useful than a shovel for building walls.

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:15 pm

Kurt Wedberg wrote:I'd agree with you on that. I'd rather do it when I know a storm isn't coming in however I've camped up there with steady 60+mph winds. It's great experience getting up there and having to set up tents and secure a camp with big winds. We then built walls around the tents. It was great fun and adventure :)

I never build walls around my tent; however, if they are there I rather take advantage of them. I don’t even carry a shovel when soloing (it has be a very, very good reason and I think it was only once.)

E.g. on my profile picture, I set up my camp at night in high winds on hard ice securing the tent with my ice tools (spikes down) hammering the first one and kicking the second one in to ice. I was wondering if the wind was able to blow my tent and was hoping I would have landed in the crater rater than a few thousand feet down the icy slope at Camp Shurman. :D

The steam caves are pretty darn cool. If you find yourself up there with time to explore again I'd highly recommend it.

Will try to do that; maybe even this year.

That's where a good saw comes in handy to cut blocks. In Antarctica the "snow" on Mt. Vinson is more like ice. A saw becomes much more useful than a shovel for building walls.

:)

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Fri Mar 06, 2015 11:36 pm

Here is the trip video form the summit attempt on Feb 15, 2015.

All descending people I met there concluded the summit was out of reach. Go figure. :roll: :oops:

http://youtu.be/LCKS_dQeAc0

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by edge17 » Thu Apr 09, 2015 12:28 am

Anyone heading up to Whitney Portal? I got back yesterday and realized I left a bag in the bearbox at the trailhead with my camping stove, pot, and a few other things.
Wondering if someone could grab it for me and drop it in the mail?

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Thu Apr 09, 2015 5:47 am

edge17 wrote:Anyone heading up to Whitney Portal? I got back yesterday and realized I left a bag in the bearbox at the trailhead with my camping stove, pot, and a few other things.
Wondering if someone could grab it for me and drop it in the mail?

As a matter of fact, my friends are going this weekend. I’ll pass them your request.

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by edge17 » Thu Apr 09, 2015 6:21 am

clmbr wrote:
edge17 wrote:Anyone heading up to Whitney Portal? I got back yesterday and realized I left a bag in the bearbox at the trailhead with my camping stove, pot, and a few other things.
Wondering if someone could grab it for me and drop it in the mail?

As a matter of fact, my friends are going this weekend. I’ll pass them your request.


Thanks so much. It's a white plastic bag in the bearbox facing the trailhead. There's some raman noodles and stuff in there that might even still be good if they are feeling adventurous :)
Would be great to get the stove back since it's survived so many of my adventures. I'll PM you my email address, feel free to pass it on to your friends

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Fri Feb 19, 2016 4:11 pm

Main Trail: Although the conditions were great we had to break trail which was extra work. Now it should be easy.

MR: On Saturday I talked to a solo climber returning from this route telling it was not complicated. Most people recently attempting Mt Whitney chose to climb Mountaineer’s Route. So the snow path (footprint/footsteps) should be easy to follow till the next storm.

The Whitney Portal Road was half way passable (with a few icy sections) up to the campground (see video). Especially for two-will-rear-dives I would strongly recommend chains. The snow disappears quickly though. Be caution of rock falls.

Gear: It’s better to be safe than sorry. This is not a summer hike. Be prepared for various challenges. Do not attempt any of these routes with just tennis shoes!!!

https://youtu.be/GAf6hX6XzDo
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAf6hX6XzDo[/youtube]

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Re: Mt Whitney Current Conditions

by clmbr » Tue Nov 14, 2017 4:16 pm

Main Trail November 4-12, 2017:

Although it was a little windy and cold on higher elevations, the weather was great over the last couple of weekends. The Main Trail was completely dry (no crampons or ice axe). There were only a few snow patches around the switchbacks but most lakes and creeks partially frozen still with plenty of water sources, however.

Many people summited on Veterans Day Weekend. I don’t remember such perfect (dry) conditions in November. That might change soon, however.

View from the famous switchbacks: Lenticular Cloud - Mt Whitney Zone, The High Sierra, CA
Image

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