"I hiked this on November 9 with great conditions. The weather was perfect! The dirt road wasn’t that rough and a regular sedan could make it up there with careful driving. I think it took us about 25 mins on the dirt road in a small SUV. Even though it was a Saturday, we didn’t see a ton of people on trail, just some mountain bikers and a few other folks toward the summit. Around 10k feet I started to slow down due to the altitude, but slow and steady is the name of the game to get to the summit. We had clear views at the top and the wind was minimal. Really couldn’t ask for better weather! There were very small amounts of snow and ice on shady parts of the trail, but nothing that was a barrier to continuing the hike. Happy trails!" — kaylam87 • Nov 9, 2019

"Hiked on 10/28/19. Left at 4 am. There was fresh snow on the route from the night before. A light powder about 3 miles in that melted later in the day. There was more snow and ice on the 97 switchbacks. I used microspikes on the way down just to be safe. Some snow and ice along the trail behind the peaks by guitar lake; I used microspikes going to the summit at this part. You could do the trail without spikes if you wanted. The last lake had a thick layer of ice that required me to use a rock to smash a hole through the ice to filter water. Temps were 0-20 degrees F with 5-20 mph winds. I had two bottom layers and four on top, two pairs of gloves with hand warmers, and a hat and an ear band. My first Whitney summit and my second 14er. The road to the trailhead was clear of ice. The trail was very clean; the only trash I saw was one wag bag closer to the summit. 7 hours 40 minutes moving time and 16 hours elapsed time. I spent a lot of time waiting on my hiking companion. " — firesoren90 • Oct 28, 2019

"The Ranger I talked to the day before said the weather couldn't be better and he was right. It was a steady 30-40 degrees the whole way and not as windy as I thought it would be. The 99 switchbacks aren't as hard as it looks like they are on paper. I kinda liked that part, to be honest. The roughest part by far was the last 2 miles to the summit. At that point you're at 13k ft and rising. The Incline is fairly mild, but the altitude winds you faster. It seems to drag on forever. The hidden challenge of t he hike is the leg th, if you day hike it. If I do it again, which I totally would, iid love to camp it and enjoy the wilderness a little longer. The night sky out there is GORGEOUS. " — alexehagen • Oct 23, 2019

"Stupidly long approach of out Leavitt Meadow. Hiked in fifteen miles to Tower Lake on Saturday. Summited and hiked out Sunday. The class 3 section in the "staircase" chute is very easy and just barely class 3. Very enjoyable summit area with sweeping views of the entire Yosemite wilderness." — edg • Oct 20, 2019

"From Sphinx lakes I headed over Sphinx col. At the col I met another backpacker who was headed for Longley pass. I headed for the northwest face of Mt. Brewer. There was still quite a bit of snow/ice on the route, but it was mostly avoidable. The summit has 3 high points. I'm still not sure which one is the highest, but the eastern most summit has the register. The middle summit is the fun summit block though. So of course I had to get out there and stand on it! Despite a little smoke coming from the Giant Forest area the views from the top were awesome!! I descended the same way I came. Back down the northwest face and back over Sphinx col, where once gain I ran into another backpacker (what are the chances!?!). He was planning to climb Brewer the following day so I gave him the heads up about the snow/ice on the route before descending from the col back down to the Sphinx lakes for the night. " — DerekJayRichardson • Oct 4, 2019