[pct-l] January Start?

[ned at pacificcrestcustombuilders.com]

What Eric said can't be underscored enough. As a winter mountaineering 
instructor, my advise (unless you have the requisite skills and experience) 
to all aspiring pct hikers is to not enter the Sierra until the pack is 
consolidated and stabile, say around April 1st. Once again, hiking on snow, 
whether 3 or 20 feet, is no different relative to the skills required to 
make it through safe and dry. Get specific pre-trip training and take a few 
practice trips before you start. Know what to watch out for and when to turn 
around or stay still for a few days.

In essence, an early start, one in March, which will put you in the Sierra 
in early April, is relatively safe for snow travel; any time earlier is too 
risky for the average pct hiker.

Mtnned
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric Lee (GAMES)" <elee at microsoft.com>
To: "Jeff Thompson" <jambii37 at gmail.com>; <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 5:55 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] January Start?


> Jeff wrote:
>>
> Just wondering the
> challenges would be with starting in January. If it's downright dangerous,
> I'll reconsider.
>>
>
> Yes, it's dangerous.  This topic has been discussed a few times recently - 
> you might try looking in the archives.  The summary version is that even 
> in southern California, there are several mountain ranges that are buried 
> in snow until April or early May.  Everything from the Sierra northward 
> won't start melting out until the beginning of June.
>
> Many resupply places and road crossings will be closed due to snow, plus 
> your rate of travel will be slow.  In many locations you'll spend more 
> time detouring to find supplies than you would spend making forward 
> progress on the trail.
>
> Winter mountaineering is inherently much more dangerous than summer 
> backpacking and requires a lot of specialized knowledge, gear, and 
> experience to avoid disaster.  You need to know about assessing avalanche 
> hazards, surviving winter storms, and technical travel in deep snow and on 
> hard ice.  You need to be confident enough in your skills to stake your 
> life on them, because that's what you'll be doing.
>
> That's not to say that it's impossible.  Some people enjoy winter 
> mountaineering and do it all the time.  Of course, every year a few of 
> those people get killed, too.  It's not something that you can just decide 
> to do without extensive preparation, and even then there are no 
> guarantees.
>
> Probably a better option would be to start in early/mid April, hike north, 
> and see how far you get by the end of July.  You almost certainly won't 
> make it to Canada but it would still be an epic hike and you'd have some 
> left over for another time.  Between January and April, maybe you can do 
> another long trail that doesn't have so much snow.  A classic PCT 
> thru-hike is probably not in the cards for you but if you think creatively 
> you can still spend most of your seven months hiking, which is the 
> important thing, right?
>
> Eric
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>