Mt. Whitney in Winter

At 14,495 feet Mt. Whitney is the high point of the lower forty eight states and the goal of virtually every mountaineer. The eleven-mile long Trail Route offers the easiest route to the summit and is ascended by countless hundreds of climbers each year.

In summer the summit is often crowded with excited climbers calling home on their cell phones and marmots cadging scraps from those lolling in the warm sun.

Winter however is a totally different story!

In the “off season” Mt. Whitney becomes a remote and difficult ascent with few people willing to take the chance of putting in a lot of work trying to climb, only to be turned back by weather, avalanche conditions and deep snow. But for those who want to test themselves and see how they do in this difficult environment Mt. Whitney offers a great climb and in a lot of ways a fun adventure that is unique in California.

To deal with the deep snow we need to travel on either skis or snowshoes. We recommend snowshoes for most people since skiing with a heavy pack in variable snow requires very advanced ski techniques.

We also do not like to have split groups with some people on skis and some on snowshoes because of the different rates of travel.

Avalanche danger is a major factor and we are constantly making assessments and reassessing. If snow stability is found to be poor then we need to accept that and abandon the attempt and live to climb another day.

The Climb
We climb the Mountaineers Route on the east side of the peak, starting from Lone Pine. We plan to meet at the Mt. Whitney Restaurant at 7.30am for breakfast. There is only one traffic light in Lone Pine and the Restaurant is on the south-west corner of the intersection. We will do an equipment check and divide up group equipment before car-pooling to the road head.

Exactly where we start hiking depends upon the road closure which may be well below the regular parking at Whitney Portal. In fact it might just take a day to get to the parking area! We also have to consider the difficulty of retrieving vehicles should the weather change for the worse. Above the Portal we follow up the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek to Lower Boy Scout Lake and then on to Upper Boy Scout. We may camp here or place high camp at Iceberg Lake at 12,400 feet.

Above Iceberg Lake rises the Mountaineers Gully proper. In winter this will be a snow-filled gully of about 35 degrees and at the top, three hundred feet of snow-covered rock lead to the summit plateau and the culmination of the climb.

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