[pct-l] How early can the sierras be entered?

[Eric Lee (GAMES)]

Geezer wrote:
>
For good detail on '06 high
Sierra passage of three hikers, Rolling Thunder's 06 journal on
trailjournals.com is suggested.  It illustrates well all the
considerations Steel Eye has aptly noted.
>

Yup, that's a good journal.

I've not hiked the Sierra in snow myself, but I have a fair amount of winter/spring experience in the Washington Cascades and these are the things I'd be aware of:

1.  At some point when the thaw starts, there's often a period of fairly dangerous avalanche activity.
2.  If you're going over steep passes that still have cornices on them, that can be a very dangerous situation.
3.  Snow travel is hard work.  Even with snowshoes, your mileage will be a lot lower than walking on bare trail.  Skies probably help, but I don't know how much - I'm not a cross-country skier.
4.  The earlier you go, the more risk you run of spring storms.
5.  It's already a long way between supply points in the Sierra, even if you go out at Independence.  With the reduced mileage, you'd have to carry a *lot* of food, which reduces mileage even more.

It's totally doable to enter the Sierra when they're still completely snowed under . . . for someone with the experience and inclination to do it.  But there are good reasons why most people don't.  Most people wait until they can be pretty sure of seeing only a couple sections of snow throughout the day instead of solid snow all day long.  Of course, that means they have to accept the problems of swollen streams and enormous sun cups, but that's the trade-off.

One final thought - the Sierra is a really tough section early in the season, even when it's only partially snow-covered.  I've read more than one trail journal where the author said he or she was doing fine up to that point in their hike, but the Sierra wrecked them physically and they were never quite the same after that.  Doing it with lots of snow on the ground probably increases the difficulty level.

Eric