[pct-l] Trail Pass

[Phil Newhouse]

Much Thanks Denis...

phil - irvine

On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Denis Stanton <denisstanton at mac.com> wrote:

>
> 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
>
>