Trip Report: Snow-hiking in the Mt. Whitney area

I never would have thought of using small snowshoes as "rotten snow crampons." Brilliant! Thanks for the tip.

Panorama is a ~30* pitch on a mountain named after a beer--or an englishman, which is even more ridiculous. Wet, gloppy, sticky new snow. I gave up.

I have the lightning 22's exactly for the rotten spring snow you're talking about. I am about 2000 lbs over the specified weight, before I put on my pack. I find the lightnings make decent crampons for strolls up gentle slopes where the snow is not icy, but likely to posthole. But for me they are too short for new snow, even with the extenders I bought and never used.

I've used them over patches of pumice, dirt, gravel, stone, asphalt--but not through bushes. Excuse me, I've gone over the low scrub you find in alpine regions, but don't tell anyone. If you've got the 30s and you're fairly tall IIRC, then I'm sure they're fine. I'm 6'2" and what was most important is that I have clearance to step foot-over-foot on difficult portions, narrow patches cut on steep traverses (as if they really were crampons).

Again, great trip report, Prof. Now don't go throwing yourself in the path of any meteors!

Snoodles are snowshoes, when you're too tired to say both words.

Green, I am intrigued -- do you use snowshoes for mixed rock, dirt, and snow?? And they hold up to the abuse? My snowshoes are 30 inch -- great for powder, but no way I could hike in them in brushy dry terrain. Do you have a pair of 22 inchers just for late-season rotten snow?

If I am reading you right, that is a wild and great idea -- we often hike during "shoulder season" (fall and spring) and have to deal with sloppy conditions.

What are snoodles? And I don't get the reference to Panorama or the ramp -- sorry.

MicroSpikes are an amazingly cool invention. I slip them on my running shoes, and with neoprene socks I'm good to go for glacier travel--with 2 lbs less on my feet. Ski poles, as always.

I've got a set of MSR Lightning 22's, and when I bought them I mentally committed to driving them over any kind of terrain. Result: I'm standing on snow laughing while others are post-holing, and after 2 years they still look new.

Just turned around today from Panorama ramp (30 ish) because I was on skis for the trip in and didn't think to bring the snoodles (left them in the car). I was punching in to my hips. No thanks!

Dan, I love scanning your trip reports, checking out the pics and reading every tenth word, which mostly end up rhyming. Adventure ho!

Er, I'm not calling anybody a "ho" here.

As always, you have produced a trip report which makes me want to go there when there is no snow.

Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing.

We did not get above 10,700, and that shot was at 10,500. In the summer, we have managed to get to the top of Kearsarge Pass (above 11,000) and to the top of Bishop Pass (around 12,000). But deep rotting snow is very slow going -- lots of "post-holing" where the snow collapses suddenly and your foot plunges down and the wet snow grabs you around the upper thigh. Very refreshing! And because the snow was patchy (some deep snow, some dry ground, rocks, etc.), we could not use snow shoes. Micro-spikes (slip-on crampons) were a big help, as were knee-high snow gaiters.

Dan (the OP),

Nice shot! I'll have to check out your blog.

I've backpacked to only around 12,000 feet up behind Sandpiper Lake ... during July-August however ... no snow or trees up there. About how high up were you in your photo above?

Green, we did not make it up that far -- even an ordinary 45 degree slope, when covered in soft slush with ice underneath, becomes a little too tricky for us. We are very far from mountaineers -- is there such a word as "hill-eers?" There are climbers, and then there are sloggers. That's us.

And Mike and Carole, I do carry a light tripod for the blurry waterfall shots. Very easy to deploy. I just crank the camera's f-stop to a high setting, which enables me to use a slow lens speed. The only problem with a light tripod is that a gust of wind can make it wiggle or even topple it -- that is what wrecked my last camera. Lesson painfully learned -- in any sort of wind, now I attach a weight to the middle of the tripod to stabilize it.

Wow! Awesome reporting.. did you take a tripod or monopod to capture the running water? I am very impressed with the places, and the photography!