As of between 5th to 8th of January the conditions on Main Trail of Mt Whitney were great. Snow was practically all the way to the top with some bold spots before North Fork and the last section of the ridge. The snow path was well packed. However, one step off trail and you might posthole. It was quite cold and windy, mostly on the upper part of the mountain. Liquid water was for sure up to Outpost Camp. We melted snow at Trail Camp.
Whitney Portal Road was passable up to the first campground gate if you had the right car. There were many rocks of various sizes on the road in a few places and a short section of ice (but long enough to be an obstacle for some cars). Do NOT park your car on the up-slope side of the road. Two trucks were stuck at Whitney Portal, one at the parking lot and another one by the restroom belonging to the Mountain Rescue people who, ironically, had to be rescued a couple of months ago. It did not look like these cars were going out of there very soon.
Recommended gear:Well, this is winter and the route has fair amount of snow (believe it or not), so I would definitely recommend ice axe and crampons. Snowshoes, however, is your choice but would not recommend getting off the snow path to far without them and hope for no big snowfall while there.
Quite many people were climbing this route and some slept in the hut.
A little adventure:When the trail on the end of the ridge became clear of snow I decided to leave my ice axe and crampons. On the way back somehow I missed them and finally after walking about 1/3 to 1/2 of the ridge decided to go back toward the summit and look for them more carefully. I found them and was happy because it was already pretty dark. Unfortunately, long before Trail Crest my headlamp died and the rest of the route descended in moon light (it was not that bad). The main problem was a cold wind blowing my back.
I decided to descend the direct slope down the Trail Crest which had a very hard surface of about an inch thick or so and powder dry snow below it. I walked down, glissaded, and walked down again when glissading become out of control due to the very hard and slippery surface. Then I traversed to Trail Camp which was quite exhausting experience due to a lot of postholing after postholing, sometimes deep enough, especially in between rocks, to get really frustrated. Well snowshoes would have definitely helped.
On the slope (below Trail Crest) I lost my ski-pool. I watched it rolling down and disappearing in darkness and then vanishing forever.
Also I cannot find my home keys after this trip.