[pct-l] Hazardous Weather Advisory for Southern Sierra

[Donna Saufley]

I agree with Wandering Bob's remarks. I would add that there are multiple
bail-out trails in the stretch he's in, and not a whole lot of vertical
exposure. The trail through there is very good and well marked.  There is
not enough snow to obscure the markers at this point.  Keep in mind too that
there are very few opportunities to update journals as the hikers head into
the Sierras, so if you don't see updates, it's because they're in the
backcountry.  It's not at all uncommon for journals to trail off (pardon the
pun) when the writer's reach the glorious Sierra.

L-Rod

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Bob Bankhead
Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 8:13 AM
To: annieguion at comcast.net
Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net; pct2009 at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Hazardous Weather Advisory for Southern Sierra

Annie:

Unless his plan included a regular phone call to you on a given frequency
that has not happened (and remember your comment about the spotty
availability of cell service), I wouldn't be worried at this point. It
sounds like he has everything he needs. Besides, he's only 3-1/2 days into a
6 day trip, and he has two good bailout opportunities if he were to need
them (Trail Pass to Horseshoe Meadows to Lone Pine and the Mt Whitney Trail
down to Whitney Portal to Lone Pine). He's a day and a half past the first
and is approaching the second.

Since he's a decent navigator and assuming he has the waypoints in his GPS,
finding the trail shouldn't be an issue. 

Call his cell phone and leave him a "call me" message. Then you just have to
wait for him to check his messages.

If you still want to worry about something, try the economy, the situation
in North Korea, or the tight schedule on my kitchen remodeling project.

Wandering Bob.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: annieguion at comcast.net 
  Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net ; pct2009 at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 7:25 AM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] Hazardous Weather Advisory for Southern Sierra




  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 

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