Hi
I am hoping to climb white mountain peak around the 4th may as an acclimatization hike for Whitney. We are coming from over seas and I am struggling to get information on what the typical conditions of white mountain peak are early may. We will be hiring a car and I'm wondering if I will be able to get to the locked gate at the trail head in a Toyota Rav 4 or something similar.
Also is there anyone who might be interested in doing this hike around this time as I will be by myself.

Thanks in advance

It is possible that storms in late April/early May will impact road conditions and/or mountain conditions during your visit. I'd advise having several options in mind.

If they don't update the web page, White Mountain Ranger District of Inyo National Forest may be able to tell you via phone or in person about which gates are closed along the road to Grandview Campground and the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Visitor Center. I doubt the gate beyond the visitor center will be open by early May nor be easily driveable if open. That would make reaching White Mountain Peak a long, overnight trek at best. Although sleeping and hiking up in that area can be great for adjusting to altitude, driving to the trailhead you are hoping to reach is a major commitment of time, even when clear and dry in summer. The scenery is interesting, but most would consider the scenery in the Sierra better. There are several paved Sierra roads that get you to 9,000-10,000 feet, some with relatively easy trails for beginning a hike, all scenic, and all good for acclimatization purposes. There is generally an effort made to open several of them by the last weekend of April for fishing season.

Barring major low snow between now and your trip, I'd look into the following:

1) Onion Valley Road, Trailhead, and Campground: The road has been reported as snow free and is not gated if you are willing to ignore closure signs that might still be in place. Hike up to Kearsarge Pass and Mount Gould (easy, excellent views, and mostly south facing). Mount Bago is a scenic option, but questionable if easy to summit as a dayhike this early in the season.

2) Horseshoe Meadows Road: This road starts off of Whitney Portal Road, but reaches higher. Hike to Trail Pass/Peak, Cottonwood Lakes, Cirque Peak, or Mount Langley via Tuttle Creek (challenging) or via New Army Pass (potential cornices).

3). Rock Creek Road: Hike Mount Morgan (S) or do other hiking here from Mosquito Flat/Little Lakes Valley. Lots of scenic options.

4). South Lake/Lake Sabrina/North Lake: Lots to do and see here if you can drive close to any of the trailheads.

5). If storms hit right before your visit and make road access difficult, lower trailheads may still provide good hiking: Meysan Lakes TH from Whitney Portal Road, Big Pine Creek Trailheads/Glacier Lodge Road, Taboose Pass TH (rough road & trail), Pine Creek TH, McGee Creek TH. There are many additional options farther north, but there is generally more snow to the north as well.

6). If conditions are poor, research conditions for Mt. Shasta and also for Death Valley National Park/Telescope Peak. Also look into peaks near Los Angeles area (San Antonio/Baldy, San Gorgonio, San Jacinto).

Hi thanks so much for the informative reply.

The plan is to do San Antonio on the 30th of April then try and squeeze one more in before Whitney on the 6th may. You have definitely given more tho think about. One that you have mentioned that I have been thinking about is Trail Peak from Horseshoe Meadows. I may look at doing this as it is nice and close to Lone Pine where we will be staying.

Thanks Again

I understand that convenience in relation to other trip plans, along with conditions, will influence what you end up doing. Your plan to do San Antonio and possibly Trail Peak would probably be most convenient and likely most benign as far as conditions.

As far as acclimatization, the more hours you spend above 9,000 feet and (if feasible) even higher in the days and nights immediately prior to attempting 14,000 feet+, the more adjusted to altitude you will likely feel. If your warm up hikes include very few hours above 10,000 feet (higher would be even better), occur several days before your Whitney attempt, and you sleep down low, you won't garner much acclimatization. Still, your planned ideas would be far better than doing nothing and may give you an idea if you are likely to struggle on Whitney. If you go at a slow pace on Whitney (as I see elsewhere is your plan) then you may handle the thin air just fine regardless. Everyone is a little different. I'd be more concerned about bad luck with weather and conditions, but I'd also probably try my best to be sleeping, relaxing, and hiking above 8,000 feet the day and night before a Whitney hike (for more days & nights & higher if possible). Minor acclimatization you do several days to a week prior will mostly be lost if you drop back down low for several days in between. If trying to avoid sleeping outside or in a vehicle, Mammoth has higher elevation lodging year round and great hiking opportunities. It is also possible that the lodging high up west of Bishop will open for fishing season.

As far as scenery and aiming high for easy/moderate dayhiking/peakbagging, I'd personally favor as much hiking as possible from Onion Valley, Rock Creek Road/Mosquito Flat, and South Lake/Sabrina/North Lake. It is quicker and less strenuous to get up close and personal with dramatic peaks from these trailheads. However, conditions and travel related convenience may make these worse choices than Trail Peak, Baldy/San Antonio, and some others. If Whitney conditions somehow end up too sketchy, you can't go wrong with any of the other ideas mentioned assuming any end up having better conditions.

I'm not sure if you have it in mind or have already visited, but Yosemite Valley will be in prime conditions for low to middle elevation hikes and sightseeing in early May and the summer crowds won't have arrived yet, especially on weekdays.

Ill do some research regarding all of the hikes you have mentioned, as from the pictures I have looked at they all look great. We fly out next Saturday and I'm also best man at a wedding on Thursday so time is not my strong point at the moment and its all coming around so fast.
We are in Honolulu 23 -27, LA 27 -1, Vegas 1 - 4, Lone Pine 4 - 7 then hopefully Yosemite for a couple of days before SF. Hence choosing baldy for acclimatization. I was also looking at Mt Charleston out of Las Vegas but it seems like quite a serious undertaking in itself to get to 10000ft. As it is close by though I might go part of the way up while we are staying in Vegas.

Your absolutely right with the weather, I have to say it will be disappointing if it prevents me from at least an attempt on Whitney.

Newclimber, it sounds like you will be having a lot of fun besides time in the mountains. If you have time, desire, and favorable conditions to get away to the high peaks on each leg of your trip, it will help some with conditioning and acclimatization for Whitney. However, I suspect most time will be spent being social at low elevations, so the keys for Whitney will be good luck with conditions, time spent on acclimatization hikes near Lone Pine, and going slow enough to keep your heart rate and oxygen levels moderate on the Whitney hike.

As far as Charleston, yes, it would be strenuous to summit and, if not melted out, potentially hazardous.

As discussed, condition dependent, but compared to other options:

-Onion Valley TH to Kearsarge Pass/Mt. Gould would be convenient, high, easy to moderate, and scenic with about a 45 minute drive.

-The end of Horseshoe Meadow Road would give several easy to moderate options that start high with about a 45 minute drive. It takes awhile to get to the best scenery on hikes here, but the drive itself is interesting.

-Meysan Lakes TH would be half the drive time or less, but starts lower and is more strenuous and rugged.

-Rock Creek Road would be a 1.5 hour or more drive, but would provide scenic, easy to moderate, high altitude, and highly traveled options.

-South Lake/Lake Sabrina area would be about a 1hr15 minute to 1.5 hour drive, but would provide scenic, easy to moderate, high altitude, and highly traveled options.


One more idea is to visit Death Valley NP on the way from Vegas to Lone Pine or to make the drive over from Lone Pine if weather is better there than in the Sierra. Scenery is great even while just driving through. Telescope Peak is the obvious choice for acclimatization purposes and ultra-prominence, while Wildrose Peak would be a quicker hike. If it isn't blazing hot out, Golden Canyon and Mosaic Canyon make for quick, fun, and scenic tourist hikes close to the main highway route through the park. Dantes View Peak is worth the detour if you happen to be heading from Vegas to/through Furnace Creek.

Happy Isles-Mist Trail-Panorama Trail-Glacier Point-4 Mile Trail makes for a great Yosemite semi-loop hike. Take the free shuttle bus if you find yourself far from wherever you parked. Renting bikes is a nice way to sightsee in the valley. Of course, you may have heard there is climbing if you are looking for that.

> As far as Charleston, yes, it would be strenuous to summit and, if not melted out, potentially hazardous.

AFAIK, the South Loop to Charleston is still closed from the 2014 fire. And the North Loop has some very exposed avalanche chutes/snow slopes past Devil's Thumb that aren't really a good idea until they are melted out. Mummy is usually accessible before Charleston is.

newclimber wrote:Hi thanks so much for the informative reply.

The plan is to do San Antonio on the 30th of April then try and squeeze one more in before Whitney on the 6th may. You have definitely given more tho think about. One that you have mentioned that I have been thinking about is Trail Peak from Horseshoe Meadows. I may look at doing this as it is nice and close to Lone Pine where we will be staying.

Thanks Again

If you're coming from Las Vegas I'd suggest skipping the mountains around the Los Angeles area; they're a long round-trip drive from the Lone Pine area. An Owens Valley option would be Independence Peak (11,500 ft) out of the Onion Valley Trailhead (above the town of Independence); hike south from the Onion Valley trailhead parking area up to Robinson Lake, then up the slope on the east side of the lake to the summit (easy 'no-trail' scramble). Nice views from the summit, and should take a leisurely 4-4.5 hours for the round trip. You could also do Mt Gould (13,000ft) by hiking up the Kersarge Pass trail west out of the parking area, or Kersarge Peak (12,000 ft) to the north. Kersarge Peak is a fairly easy scramble, but it can be tough to find the trail.

If you are really into geology I'd also suggest making the drive up to the Mammoth Lakes/Mammoth Mountain area to explore the Long Valley Caldera/Mono Lake area; look it up on the internet. If you're into volcanology this area is a gold mine of sights from thermal springs to volcanic cones, all at 9000-11000 ft.