[pct-l] Cold weather for Washington and Oregon Cascades, snow level close to 4000 ft.

[dicentra]

Be careful out there indeed!!!
 
We just got back from a 2 day trip - Government Meadows to Crystal Ski Area. Snow flurries while we were hiking. It was about 32 degrees at 7am on Sunday at Big Crow Basin.

Just put the photos and trip report up on my blog. Brrrr.... I think I'm still thawing out! 
 
~Dicentra

http://www.onepanwonders.com
http://www.freewebs.com/dicentra 

 

--- On Mon, 9/1/08, Eric Lee (GAMES) <elee at microsoft.com> wrote:

From: Eric Lee (GAMES) <elee at microsoft.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Cold weather for Washington and Oregon Cascades, snow level close to 4000 ft.
To: "mattjolley at comcast.net" <mattjolley at comcast.net>, "pct-l at backcountry.net" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Date: Monday, September 1, 2008, 10:41 PM

Matt wrote:
>
Point forecasts are showing lows of 25 degrees,  highs of 41 at  7000 ft in
Oregon.
>

Just came off a six day, 140 mile hike of Oregon Sections D and E (Highway 138
near Diamond Lake to Highway 242 at McKenzie Pass).  Yup, it was definitely cold
up there.  I was in the Sisters Wilderness yesterday and it basically never got
much above the freezing point the whole day.  There were strong winds,
intermittent showers of ice crystals, plus a fair amount of sun, for the first
half of the day, and then about 4 PM it started snowing for real.  I was eating
dinner at the time and watched the ground go from brown to white and it
didn't look to be stopping anytime soon.  I was planning to hike out that
night anyway but the snow definitely gave me a little extra push in that
direction.  I got the hell out of Dodge and arrived at McKenzie Pass about 10 PM
where it was warmer and much less windy.

I don't know what the total accumulation was up there; probably a few
inches, which isn't a big deal if you're prepared for that kind of thing
but a very rude shock if you're not.  It was a great reminder that even
ultralight hikers need to be prepared for reasonably foreseeable conditions at
all times . . . and snow in the mountains is reasonably foreseeable any time of
year.  Be safe out there!

Eric
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