SummitPost.org

Here are the images from Mt Whitney Main Trail route taken in beginning of January 2014:
(I'm going there back on Feb 8th.)

Jarpup wrote:Has anyone climbed the MR on Whitney recently? If so, how were conditions?
Given how bad Shasta looks right now, the long drive south might be worth it.

Two friends went up MR within the last 2 weeks, separate trips -- very dry. But I would guess that has changed a lot in the last 24 hours. Pictures of the Sierra are showing 1 foot of new powder down low.

We spent a couple of days (8-9/02) just below Outpost Camp. Surprisingly the road conditions were much better than a month ago and we were able to drive (4x4 & high clearance with good tires a must) all the way to Portal. However, after dozen of switchbacks above North Fork the trail was completely covered (leveled) with snow and we continued hiking cross-country to the "bridge" and set up a (forced) camp around Lone Pine Lake split. The upper part of the mountain has much more snow than a month ago. Unlike a month ago, snowshoes are a must! We were postholing with snowshoes while breaking the snow path.