Mt Whitney

Skinning up the Mountaineers gully

Mt Whitney is the tallest and most visited peak in the High Sierra. It deserves all the attention it gets. There is a wealth of options for ascents and descents, and all-year accessibility. East Face and East Buttress, for example, are a classic rock climbs. And the North Fork's  "mountaineers" route is an attractive ski route.






One of the challenges for skiing Mt Whitney is the snow condition that varies quite a bit from season to season. This trip happened in the spring of 2011.

Whitney portal road takes you up to 8, 300 ft. The gain from there to the summit is 6000 ft. Road is not maintained during winter, and often there are rocks and snow. I define good ski conditions when the gully bellow Lower Boy-Scout Lake (LBSL) is filled up with snow, that covers rocks and willows all the way down to the South Fork trail. It is best go soon after a storm, provided there is low avalanche hazard. Route -finding is a lot easier in winter than it is in summer. As with most Sierra peaks, I find a Whipped and Alu crampons sufficient.
 Snow conditions can vary, but generally the gully is quite skiable from the notch down. Above the notch, the portion of the north face, is usually sketchy and exposed. Possibly the best choice is to ski the second or third gully to the west and traverse over to the notch.

Path taken on the NF of Whitney in 2011

Another good choice is going down the North Face. 
Snow was pretty good in  2011 and we did almost continuous descent with short scramble around a rock band. The north face is a notch up in terms of commitment and difficulty compared to the mountaineering chute.
I recommend skiing Mt Whitney in a day. If you think you will be slow get an early start. A fit skier can do it in a half day roundtrip.

Andre on top of Mt Whitney, 14, 500 ft 

skinning below LBSL

More pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/badakov/Whitney