[pct-l] Washington Snow

[Steve Scoles]

I am heading NOBO from Cascade Locks on Sunday, July 27.  I called the
rangers in Trout Lake and Cowlitz (both section H) yesterday.  They
indicated that there is still a lot of snow above 4500', especially in shade
and north sides.  Routefinding will be a challenge in places in this
section.  The ranger told me one hiker carried an ice axe going through Goat
Rocks, but turned back because the snow was steep and icy.  That hiker
wished he had crampons too.  I plan to bring both ice axe and crampons for
the Goat Rocks part, but that is probably the only place I would need them
in the state.  Hope to get to Canada in early Sept.
Happy Trails,
Coyote Steve
Whidbey Island, WA

On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 11:52 AM, CHARLES MILLER <chuck-miller at earthlink.net>
wrote:

> I am from Houston, Texas.  I plan to leave Cascade Locks Monday morning 8/3
> going north.  If all goes well I will get to Manning early to mid September.
>  This will complete my PCT hike having started in 2002.  I missed several
> years due to Sierra Fires.
>
> I had planned to start med-July, but waited due to snow in Washington.  I
> have monitored the snow using SNOTEL for the past few weeks, data shown
> below.  I chose the 17 SNOTEL stations that seemed to me to be closest to
> the PCT.  The Waypoints are from the More-Than-Mile CD.  In the beginning
> all 17 stations had an average of 60 inches (WOW!), and last Friday only 1
> station had snow left, 3 inches.  The other 16 reported none.
>
> >From my experience in the Sierras, I still expect there will be
> significant and steep snow fields to cross on the cold side of mountains at
> higher elevations, and on the cold side where there are trees.
>
> I am debating on bringing my snow ax.
>
> Any general advise on what to expect and how to prepare would be
> appreciated.  Houston is a long way from snow country.
>
> Tex
> Chuck Miller
>
>      July 21, 2008
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>     6/7
>     6/14
>     6/21
>     6/28
>     7/5
>     7/12
>     7/19
>
>
>
>     Location
>
>
>     Snow
>     Snow
>     Snow
>     Snow
>     Snow
>     Snow
>     Snow
>
>      WayPoint
>     Name
>     Lat
>
>     Lon
>
>     Elevation
>     Depth
>     Depth
>     Depth
>     Depth
>     Depth
>     Depth
>     Depth
>
>      U067
>     Surprise Lakes
>     46
>     5
>     121
>     45
>     4,250
>     86
>     79
>     61.7
>     45.3
>     10.4
>     0
>     0
>
>      U104
>     Potato Hill
>     46
>     20
>     121
>     30
>     4,500
>     41
>     32
>     12.8
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>
>      U144-7
>     Pigtail Peak
>     46
>     37
>     121
>     23
>     5,900
>     103
>     96
>     77.7
>     61
>     34
>     16.3
>     0
>
>      U145
>     White Pass
>     46
>     38
>     121
>     22
>     4,500
>     22
>     14
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>
>      V029
>     Cayuse Pass
>     46
>     52
>     121
>     31
>     5,240
>     105
>     96.6
>     78.9
>     60.9
>     31.6
>     8
>     0
>
>      V032
>     Morse Lake
>     46
>     54
>     121
>     28
>     5,400
>     69
>     56
>     38.2
>     22.1
>     0
>     0
>     0
>
>      V046
>     Corral Pass
>     47
>     1
>     121
>     27
>     6,000
>     75
>     67
>     54
>     40.6
>     21.3
>     5.5
>     0
>
>      V060
>     Sawmill Ridge
>     47
>     9
>     121
>     25
>     4,630
>     48
>     37
>     11.1
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>
>      V082
>     Stampede Pass
>     47
>     16
>     121
>     20
>     3,860
>     66
>     54
>     41.6
>     17.8
>     0
>     0
>     0
>
>      V090
>     Tinkham Creek
>     47
>     19
>     121
>     28
>     3,070
>     68
>     61.5
>     47.4
>     32.3
>     9.1
>     0
>     0
>
>      V095
>     Olallie Meadows
>     47
>     22
>     121
>     26
>     3,700
>     108
>     99
>     85.7
>     71.6
>     39.3
>     21
>     0
>
>      W039
>     Fish Lake
>     47
>     32
>     121
>     4
>     3,371
>     4
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>
>      W065
>     Stevens Pass
>     47
>     44
>     121
>     5
>     4,070
>     39
>     31
>     13.4
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>
>      X007
>     Miners Ridge
>     48
>     12
>     120
>     57
>     6,200
>     72
>     72
>     48.7
>     33
>     6.7
>     0
>     0
>
>      X008
>     Lymon Lake
>     48
>     11
>     120
>     55
>     5,900
>     78
>     68
>     55.2
>     38.7
>     9.2
>     0
>     0
>
>      X046
>     Rainey Pass
>     48
>     31
>     120
>     44
>     4,780
>     37
>     28
>     14.7
>     0
>     0
>     0
>     0
>
>      X075
>     Harts Pass
>     48
>     43
>     120
>     39
>     6,500
>     45
>     32
>     30.4
>     9.9
>     3.1
>     3
>     3
>
>      Locations with snow remaining on the ground
>     17
>     16
>     15
>     11
>     9
>     5
>     1
>
>      Average snow depth this week for those locations
>     63
>     58
>     45
>     39
>     18
>     11
>     3
>
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