Finally made it down to Mt. Whitney. It has been on my list for a long time. Not because I thought the skiing would be all that great, but because it is the tallest mountain in the lower 48. Friends, family, and a ton of clients have been asking me about it for years.
The timing was right last thursday:
Hall pass, Good conditions, Good weather, Road open to the Portal.
You may have heard the road is closed from the Lone Pine Ranger Station. Not entirely true. I was informed my some locals they call the it a "soft closure". It's good to go.
It was a full value kind of day: climbing & skiing a variety of snow.... wind hammered, firm melt freeze, leftover pow, breakable crust, scree, nice corn, and some fun knee deep post-holing....
All in all, a classic day in the High Sierra. Details below...







Mountaineers Route April 15th
Departed Whitney Portal 8300 ft approx. 4:30 am
Summit of Whitney 14,500 ft approx. 1:00 pm
Back to car approx 3:30 pm

Got on snow at about 9000 ft.
Ski crampon was nice (but not necessary) for skinning a few firm sections in the early am.
Took super light crampons & axe which were nice to have (but not entirely necessary) Just for the last 200-300 ft. (14,200-14,500 gets a little steep and has the potential to be a mixed bag of ice, wind hammered snow, & scree scramble).
Not really possible to ski the upper section when I was there. (crazy combo of: rock, scree, firm wind hammered snow, and a bit of waist deep pow)
Slow going (post-holing) for at least an hour or two... and had to walk on scree in the actual chute between 13,900-14,200.
The skiing in the couloir was a mix of breakable crust and blown in pow.
The best skiing was probably the rolling terrain from 11,500-9,500 (nice soft corn like skiing in the afternoon)
A bluebird day with a light breeze.
Conclusion = great first visit to Mt. Whitney. killer day, amazing mtns, & great training.... but not a ski destination I would recommend compared to the hundreds of East side sensations we have fallen in love with.
Cheers, Rich

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RMAG

Rich, Great job! So nice to be there when no one else is there eh? In the summer it's a zoo. you're 3rd pic is phenominal 8) Thanks for sharing.

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More BC action next week, right here on ESPN 8, "The OCHO" :)

Nice Job Rich. I haven't heard of anyone getting good snow conditions in MR or above it. Still it's an amazing day being up there. Mt. Whitney is incredible.
Got any pics of Russell you can email me?

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Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net