[pct-l] Hazardous Weather Advisory for Southern Sierra

[annieguion at comcast.net]

Okay folks, I need your advice. My partner (Chuck/Rover) is thru-hiking. He left Kennedy Meadows in the middle of the day on Tuesday, June 2. His plan was to hike the trail, including the side hike up Mt. Whitney (most likley today, Saturday), and come out to Independence over Kearsarge pass sometime on  Monday. I think he is hiking alone, though he left KM a few hours after Buckwheat (Rick), a hiker we met who seems strong and well prepared. 



I am at home in VT. These weather reports and  Censored's situation are causing sleepless nights for me. He does not have a spot. He does have a cell phone - scant reassurance since it probably won't work when he might need it to. He has Eric the Black's atlas and a GPS. He is a strong hiker, with good commonsense and sense of caution, a decent navigator, has 6 days of food in a bear cannister, a 15 degree bag, contrail tent, raingear, boots (though not waterproof) down jacket, balaclava - going middle of the UL spectrum I would say, but it sounds pretty cold and wet up there and hypothermia puts an end to commonsense and makes gear useless. 



I checked postholer.com and didn't see any new journal posts from people up there right now. 



I just read some of the wilderness press, about how hard it is to find the trail over Forester pass - with new snow that seems impossible. I was hoping he would come out at Lone Pine, or at least by pass Mt. Whitney, in which case I would have hoped to hear from him by now, or at least by tomorrow. Should I be worried? If yes, any advice? 



Annie/Sherpa Girl 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "The Incredible Bulk" <ki6asp at gmail.com> 
To: pct2009 at yahoogroups.com, pct-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 10:31:34 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [pct-l] Hazardous Weather Advisory for Southern Sierra 

>From the NWS... 

...THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN 
JOAQUIN VALLEY...THE FOOTHILLS AND THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS... 

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER THE CENTRAL 
AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY THROUGH THE MORNING. THESE 
THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTH TO NORTHEAST AT 15 TO 20 MPH...AND 
WILL MOVE INTO THE SIERRA FOOTHILLS...INCLUDING THE 
MARIPOSA...COARSEGOLD AND LAKE ISABELLA AREAS...AND INTO THE 
HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA AND TEHACHAPI 
MOUNTAINS. THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY 
HEAVY RAIN...HAIL UP TO AN INCH IN DIAMETER...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING 
AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS. 

IF A THUNDERSTORM APPROACHES YOUR LOCATION...SEEK SHELTER AT ONCE. 
REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER...YOU ARE AT RISK FROM 
LIGHTNING. 

-- 
Tom KI6ASP 
The Incredible Bulk 
pctaddict.blogspot.com 
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