[pct-l] Sierra Conditions Report

Tue Jun 14 20:37:03 CDT 2011

It certainly is all of that!!!
I've been hiking the Sierra since 1959 and, while I've seen some heavy snow
years, I cannot remember one like this.  That's why, in an earlier post,  I
recommended that less experienced hikers and those without advanced snow
skills think seriously about getting off the trail until late July or
skipping the Sierra and moving on to just past Crater Lake (as it's not much
better there at this juncture).
As Jack Haskel pointed out in his post "*This is not hiking the trail. Its
more a winter ice endurance event.The experience doesn't  relate to thru
hiking. For people who aren't into that it won't be fun at all.*"
In my opinion hiking the trail is the experience of varying conditions. A
little snow along the way inter mingled with lush green meadows, spring
flowers, and rushing waters is okay...  but 700+ miles of heavy snow!!!??!!!
Quackers

On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 6:00 PM, Sir Mix-a-lot <atetuna at gmail.com> wrote:

> That's crazy. CRAZY!  We're supposed to be doing trail work there in a
> couple weeks.
>
> Sir Mix-a-lot
>
> On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 4:57 PM, Stephen Clark <rowriver at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> RE: Sierra Conditions Report....
>>
>> With regard to this section of the report, "*The road to Reds Meadow was
>> just starting to be plowed on June
>> 13th (there was ten feet of snow), so Reds is unlikely to open any time
>> soon,*"  go to this link for a visual
>> http://www.nps.gov/depo/planyourvisit/hours.htm
>>
>> It's almost impossible to believe that these photos were taken within the
>> last 2 weeks.  **
>>
>> Quackers
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 2:51 PM, Mann <bmann1 at san.rr.com> wrote:
>>
>> > This is a trail report from Jack Haskel, the PCTA's Trail Information
>> > Specialist:
>> >
>> > Sierra Conditions Report  6/14/11
>> > Don¹t Panic and Wing-it are likely hikers #5-6 in the northbound wave. I
>> > talked to them today, June 14th, from Mammoth Lakes. They have some
>> > interesting and potentially helpful information to pass along. As you
>> read
>> > this, know that the conditions they faced are likely much different from
>> > those that you will face. That doesn¹t necessarily mean that it will be
>> > easier, but it will be different. Note that Don¹t Panic and Wing-it have
>> > already hike the PCT, CDT and AT (Wing-it missed some miles on the PCT
>> so
>> > they¹re doing the whole trail again). They are super fit and strong
>> hikers
>> > who averaged 29 miles per day from the border, often walk 30+ miles per
>> day
>> > and don¹t take many days off.
>> >
>> > They left the Kennedy Meadows area on June 2nd, and arrived at VVR on
>> the
>> > 10th (where they zeroed). They left VVR on the 12th and arrived at
>> Mammoth
>> > Lakes on the 13th.  ³It¹s been wild. It¹s nothing I¹ve ever
>> experienced.²
>> > Wing-it said.  While there were decent steps across Forester, the chute
>> was
>> > ³hard snow and ice that our ice-axes couldn¹t penetrate².  They felt
>> that
>> > their Microspikes were essential but wished they had real crampons. An
>> > impassible cornice blocked Mather Pass and they did a near vertical rock
>> > climb on the left side of the pass to bypass it.
>> >
>> > It seems like runoff hadn¹t peaked yet. They crossed Evolution Creek at
>> the
>> > appropriate crossing, upstream of the PCT at the meadow crossing. Bear
>> > Creek
>> > was their hardest crossing. They crossed it at the PCT, in tandem
>> > technique,
>> > it was swift and reached Don¹t Panic¹s upper thigh (he¹s 6¹2¹¹).
>> > They never had to camp on snow, but only achieved this through a lot of
>> > hard
>> > work. Generally, it was all snow walking from south of Crabtree Meadows
>> to
>> > Woods Creek. They report 8-10 feet of snow in the valleys and that it
>> > ³won¹t
>> > melt anytime soon². In a few weeks, ³it won¹t be any easier because the
>> > snow
>> > is like a series of ramps that you need to walk up and down².
>> >
>> > ³Snow makes it an incredible amount of work. It¹s discouraging to hike
>> the
>> > hardest you¹ve ever hiked for only 13 miles of progress.² ³We did things
>> > that not a lot of average thru-hikers could do. We hiked Pinchot and
>> Mather
>> > Passes in the same day to avoid camping in snow. It was about 20 miles
>> on
>> > snow.²
>> > ³This is not hiking the trail. It¹s more a winter ice endurance event.
>> The
>> > experience doesn¹t relate to thruhiking. For people who aren¹t into
>> that,
>> > it
>> > won¹t be fun at all.² They also made sure to emphasize that the Sierra
>> is
>> > ³beautiful!²
>> >
>> > Please be prepared if you¹re heading into the Sierra. A fall on snow, a
>> > slip
>> > in a creek or running out of food because of slower miles and exhaustion
>> > are
>> > all real possibilities.
>> >
>> > VVR is open. The road to Red¹s Meadow was just starting to be plowed on
>> > June
>> > 13th (there was ten feet of snow), so Red¹s is unlikely to open any time
>> > soon. Tuolumne Meadows is still closed and will be closed for a long
>> time.
>> > Don¹t Panic and Wing-it plan to resupply at Kennedy Meadows North. The
>> > store
>> > at Echo Lakes is closed, the road has not been plowed and it is possible
>> > that it won¹t open until early July. The box that they sent there is
>> being
>> > held in nearby Twin Bridges, CA.
>> >
>> >
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