[pct-l] Start time

[Ned Tibbits]

Carl,

Talking about Start Time and snow, did I ever tell you that in 1974 after I 
left Weldon and headed up onto the Kern Plateau, through Tunnel Guard 
Station, Big Whitney Meadow, and up to Siberian Outpost, I had about 2-3 
feet of snow mid-April, so I used my Sherpa Designs snowshoes all the way. 
By the time I got over Forester, the snowshoes were toast, shredded deck 
straps due to the ice, so they lasted only 100 miles or less!

Powder snow, no matter the time of year, if deep enough to wallow in, can be 
extremely exhausting to struggle through.

On all of our teaching courses along the PCT/JMT, we only do about 6 to 10 
miles per day (but then we take it easy and play around a lot taking 
pictures, exploring things, learning how to identify where the trail is and 
realizing that it doesn't matter, and eating 5 meals a day!



Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
www.mountaineducation.org
-----Original Message----- 
From: Carl Siechert
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 5:42 PM
To: PCT
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Start time

You've got that right.

1977 started off much like 2014: virtually no snow on the ground throughout
the winter. (In December 1976, we climbed 14,000+ foot Mt. Langley, hoping
to get some snowshoe and ice axe practice. No snow to be found. Our only
ice axe practice was using them as hockey sticks on frozen lakes.)

On our 1977 thru hike, we crossed Highway 178 to enter the Sierra in early
May. Still no snow on the ground. Several days in, a series of storms
dumped over two feet of snow, and we were still walking on snow as we
crossed Donohue Pass into Yosemite a few weeks later. Finally got to use
our snowshoes.

The "start early" strategy is good this year, but be prepared for late
storms.



>
> > On Feb 2, 2014, at 2:10 PM, "rbelshee" <rbelshee at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > What snow will exist next week or next month is unknown. There is
> nothing there now. Hence everyone's advice to start early (due to likely
> dry water sources) but be ready to change plans if changing conditions
> exceed your competence.
>
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