[pct-l] Trail Pass

[Denis Stanton]

On 22/06/2008, at 5:25 AM, Phil Newhouse wrote:

> L-Rod,
>
> Will you be carrying crampons/ice axe for your departure north  
> starting next
> friday?  What do you anticipate regarding snow on the trail?

Phil

I hiked Trail Pass to Kearsarge Pass starting 30 May, ending 4 June.   
There was some snow on the trail, particularly on north-facing  
descents into streams.  I didn't carry crampons or an axe.  Not needed  
from Trail Pass to Crabtree Meadows.  Others I met intended going up  
to Mt Whitney but abandoned the attempt above Guitar Lake because the  
switchbacks to Trail Crest were lost in snow.  They had ice axes but  
it still looked too hard.  Three weeks of snow melt may have changed  
this.

North of Crabtree it was still easy going, with the snow patches being  
annoying but not enough to justify extra gear.  I found Forester Pass  
(June 3) to be a challenge without ice equipment.  I got through  
mainly thanks to the footsteps left by others.  It would have been  
wiser to have an ice axe.  I broke my hiking pole in an unsuccessful  
attempt at self-arrest that could have ended badly.

For a visual report on trail condition check photos here
	http://web.mac.com/denisstanton/denis/2008_May_Chicken_Spring_Lake.html
and here
	http://web.mac.com/denisstanton/denis/2008_May_Rock_Creek.html

Two days published four to go.  There are a number of photos of me  
grinning at the camera, but I think the rest of the scenery makes up  
for that

Google Maps fans will find all 260 photos geo-located if they go here:
	http://maps.google.com/
and search for:
	http://stanton.net.nz/USA2008/USA2008.kml

For Google Earth, save the following line as "USA2008.kml" (or  
similar) and open with Google Earth.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.1">
<NetworkLink>
	<name>USA2008</name>
	<open>1</open>
	<refreshVisibility>1</refreshVisibility>
	<flyToView>1</flyToView>
	<Url>
		<href>http://stanton.net.nz/USA2008/USA2008.kml</href>
		<refreshMode>onInterval</refreshMode>
		<refreshInterval>86400</refreshInterval>
	</Url>
</NetworkLink>
</kml>

Denis Stanton
denisstanton at mac.com