[pct-l] SOBO

[Barry Teschlog]

While June 15 is the typical date bandied about for SOBO, do watch the snow 
conditions and adjust if / as required depending on your skill / comfort level / 
desired experience.

Don't let folks say (as they have been) that WA is below average on snow this 
year.  While that may be true overall, it's not necessarily relevant to the SOBO 
PCT hiker.  In the northern most parts of the trail (where you'll start), snow 
pack is average to slightly above average, as indicated by the Harts Pass snotel 
site readings as of this date.

Do your homework.

Start with Snotel.

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/

Click on the little map of Washington.  Then start checking the various sensors 
near the PCT.  You'll want to look at the northern ones to give you an idea of 
what you'll encounter at the start, be it Canada (although be aware that ICE is 
getting their undies in a knot over SOBO border crossings - don't do it) or just 
south inside the US, say at Harts Pass (the northernmost road on the trail) or 
Rainy Pass (northernmost main highway).

When you're doing this home work, compare previous years plots to this years, 
and read the corresponding previous years SOBO journals.  Correlate the journal 
entries descriptions of the snow conditions with the snow sensor readings from 
the same date (or the plot of how the snow melted and the last date for "zero" 
snow), then compare to this years sensor readings.  You should be able to deduce 
what is likely to be encountered.

Moving from north to south, click on the site, then click on each of the "snow 
depth" (daily readings) and "snow water equivalent" (daily graph).  Check the 
following snotel sites:

 - Harts Pass (On the PCT)
 - Rainy Pass (On the PCT)
 - Lyman Lake (near the PCT in the Glacier Peak area.  Note that the nearby 
Miners Ridge is no longer in service)
 - Stevens Pass (on the PCT)
 - Olallie Meadows (on the PCT near Snoqualmie Pass)
 - Stampede Pass (on the PCT ~20 miles south of Snoqualmie Pass)
 - White Pass (on the PCT)

Other resources:
http://www.stevenspass.com/ (check the web cams and compare to the Stevens Pass 
snow sensor)
http://www.summitatsnoqualmie.com/  (check the web cams and compare to the 
Olallie snow sensor)

Note that just because a snow sensor reads zero, doesn't mean there is no snow 
in the area - in fact there may still be significant snow in the area.  Last 
season, for example, the snow sensor at Stevens Pass showed "zero" yet the web 
cams for Stevens Pass Ski Area showed the slopes still ~2/3 covered quite some 
time later.  One factor influencing this effect is that here in Washington the 
passes are the LOW points of the trail, not the high points as is the case in 
the Sierra. 


Another data point to consider:  Last season the WTA scheduled a log out of the 
PCT between Harts Pass and Rainy Pass for July 5-10.  It was canceled due to 
high snow (we logged out trails further east, in the Pasayten Wilderness 
instead).  This year, the log out for that stretch of trail is scheduled for 
July 18-22.

All that said:  Folks SOBO successfully every year.  Just go into it fully 
informed.

Standard Disclaimers:
YMMV, HYOH, 2 cents, opinions and back sides, value of free advice, yadda, 
yadda, yadda....