[pct-l] Shipping to KM store + small olive oil bottles

[Eric Lee]

Simon wrote:
>
1) Can I ship my ice axe (and other "Sierra stuff") to the Kennedy Meadows
Store two months in advance? This way I could ship it from San Diego to
Kennedy Meadows right away, instead of having to bounce it forward. And a
more subjective question: do you think an ice axe is needed this year?
>

I don't know what the policy actually is at Kennedy Meadows Store, but I'll
observe that it can be quite challenging for some of these places to safely
store hundreds of boxes for long periods of time.  If at all possible, I'd
encourage you to arrange for a friend to ship your Sierra stuff to Kennedy
Meadows closer to your arrival date just to reduce the hassle for the store.
But that's just me - maybe they wouldn't care one way or another.

The question "is an ice axe needed" depends on so many variables as to be
meaningless.  An ice axe is only necessary if you slip and fall on a steep
snow slope.  The vast majority of people who carry an ice axe never use it
to prevent or arrest a fall.  They might conclude that an axe wasn't
necessary.  A few people do end up using their ice axe to save their lives.
They'd definitely tell you it was necessary.

It's kind of like insurance.  It's usually not necessary, and you hope it
never is, but if you need it you better have it.  The only time it's smart
to do without it is when a covered disaster scenario can never happen.  For
example, I don't carry flood insurance on my house because I live on a hill
and it's practically impossible for my house to flood.  In the same vein, if
you're planning to enter the Sierra late enough that there will be no steep
snow slopes anywhere, then of course you don't need an ice axe.  If you're
entering before all the snow has melted then you *probably* won't need one
but if you do, you better have one.  The exact timing of the snow melt-off
is difficult to predict this far out.

Eric