[pct-l] Snow conditions NOBO from Snoqualamie Pass to Canada

[Eric Lee (GAMES)]

Rick wrote:
>
Has anyone recently hiked the first 10-20 miles north of Snoqualmie Pass?
Schaffer says that snow typically lingers on some of the steep traverses during
the first 15 miles, making for "some treacherous gully crossings". Is there
snow  on these steep traverses  and if so how much, how "treacherous" were the
gully crossings and when were you there?
>

As you probably know, the snow is staying on the ground late this year.

You can look on the Washington Trails Association web site for recent trip reports and you'll often find a recent one covering parts of the PCT.  There was actually one posted just yesterday, you can find it at this link:

http://www.wta.org/~wta/cgi-bin.dev/wtaweb.pl?7+reports+displayM+2008071604

It says, in part:

"There is lingering snow at the snoqualmie pass trailhead. The first 4 miles are mostly snowfree, with occasional snowy patches easily crossed with poles. One could readily get to ~5000 ft with poles, but that's where the fun starts. Getting to the katwalk requires knowledge and equipment for self-belay, self-arrest, proper in-balance snow travel technique on snow slopes in excess of 60 degrees, decent soft snow avalanche assessment skills, and a clear head about the risk of falling. If you don't understand that last sentence, it's deadly for you to attempt to go: pick some other trail. That won't change until mid-late august (snow is melting but slowly) so please make other plans."

As always, the weather between now and when you want to leave will dramatically affect the conditions you find then.  It could very well be completely clear by then . . . or possibly not.  But projecting forward to August 5th, I'd guess that the odds are largely in your favor.  The best thing to do is to keep searching the WTA site for trip reports, and asking here, too.  There will be a lot more people attempting that section in the next few weeks.

Eric