[pct-l] SoBo from Whitney Section Hike

[Michael Irving]

Hi All,

For my "MYTH", I've been working my way south through Oregon.  Next year I plan to go from Shelter Cove/Odell Lake down to Hwy 140 which is south of Crater Lake a ways, about a 130-mile hike over 8 days.  The problem with OR and WA is that you have to wait so long in the season to start hiking.  So I had an idea to maybe start tackling Southern California in the spring time while I'm still waiting for the snow to melt up north.  I plan to do the JMT section of the PCT some day which obviously ends at Whitney.  So my thought was to start at Lone Pine, cut into the PCT on one of the trails from there and head south.  That first section from Lone Pine to Kennedy Meadows will be the tough one with snow which leads me to my question.  

In an average snow year, what's the earliest I could hike from Lone Pine to the PCT and south.  It looks like there are several trails to choose from including:

Mulkey Pass (744.5) (10,385')
Trail Pass (745.3) (10,486')
Cottonwood Pass (750.2) (11,100')
Crabtree Meadow (766.5)(10,300' going over 11,500' on the PCT south and over 13,600' over the Whitney crest to Lone Pine)

Crabtree Meadow would be my 1st choice to not miss any of the PCT, but also not logical due to the very high pass which I assume is covered with snow and also a brutal first day elevation hike from Lone Pine.  Assuming that's a bad choice are the other three options a toss up or is one recommended over the other?

What's the date range I might be able to accomplish this assuming a normal snow year?

All that being said...if I bag that and start at Kennedy Meadows and go south from there instead, when's the earliest range of time I could feasibly start from there?

Thanks in advance for your help!

-GoalTech