[pct-l] Snow in the Northern Sierra

[Lisa Valenti-Jordan]

Hello all!

I went up to Desolation near Fallen Leaf Lake on Wednesday (about 5mi off
the PCT) to see how my stuff would fare in the storm.  Fantastic winds, and
some lovely Sierra Cement pelted the tent for most of the night, but it held
up just fine.  There is a ton of snow this year, though in the N. Sierra, at
least up to 7500' my microspikes worked well.  I'm headed to I-80 to scout
the PCT for a couple of miles in two weeks and I'll let you know what it's
like then.  It was pretty sparse on S. exposures when I went up, but the
storm put down another 5" at a minimum.  Ice bridges over streams from
meltwater were tenuous, and there was water *everywhere* which made keeping
gear dry more difficult than cold snow camping.

If you'd like to see some photos, they should be here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100495794515697.2960922.8603196&l=eee2f860b2

And in positive news, I just confirmed that I have a buddy for all of
section H - whoop whoop!

Thanks to Ned for the south sierra reports, next time out crampon skillz
practice.

Puddlejumper