[pct-l] Steven's Pass snow levels..........6.11.07

[Junaid Dawud]

Ah Snoqualmie Pass,

It was freshly covered with snow when I last saw it on
10-31-06.  Brings a litte tear to my eye.  It had been
green when I got there, but that changed on the 29th
when Alon and I were about 20 miles northbound on the
PCT.  We had gone to sleep on the 28th with some snow
on the ground and awoke to a blizzard (We learned
later that this storm caused a semitrailer to jack
knife on I90 at the pass, causing it to close).  We
hunkered down all day and all night.  I had to dig out
my tent a couple of times.  The next day we started
snowshoeing north for a few miles before making the
painful decision to turn back a mere 240 miles from
the border.  It sure was a beautiful 23+ mile snow
shoe back to the Pass.  It was also scary as hell,
exposed, and exhausting.  

The moral of this story is that if you want to finish
your thru hike on the PCT, get to canada BEFORE winter
gets to the north Cascades.  I personally would say
any finishing date later than October 15th is a
serious gamble.  Depending on the year, anything later
than October 1st might be pushing it.

Man I can't wait to hit the trail again August 1st.

--------------Speshul 41


 
--- Brian Lewis <brianle at nwlink.com> wrote:

> "I don't know where on Steven's Pass the snow levels
> are checked but you can
> see the ski slopes from the highway and they are
> getting pretty green."
> 
> Driving through Snoqulamie Pass yesterday I noticed
> that those ski slopes
> are all green too, except, amusingly, you can see
> the clear shapes of where
> they set up ramps of snow for snowboarders or
> something like that.  That
> much snow remains, otherwise it's all clear.   That
> sort of view is what
> tempted me to get up to where snow is clearly
> lingering longer in the
> deeper, darker forest.   Kept my food nice and cold
> though, pretty much
> refrigerator temps in there night and day! <g>
> 
> 
> 	Brian
> 
> 
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