[pct-l] snow conditions 2015

[walt Durling]

Jason
The Sierra is nothing if not unpredictable in spring.  There's still weeks of winter left which could yet bring much snow to the trail. Last year I encountered a snow storm just south of whitney portal area in early May, and was postholing off on for parts of 2 days to the south.  Whitney itself received a lot of snow from that storm.  If you look at pics from last year, the early hikers encountered snow conditions at high elevations, but not enough to put the brake on those intrepid souls.  Bottom line: if conditions are like last hear, an early start will work.  But no one will know yet for another 6 weeks.  If you start early, count on tempestuous weather, including overnight freezing as a norm.

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 9, 2015, at 22:21, Jason Torbitzky <jasontorbitzky at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> First time thru-hike attempter here. From what I can gather looking at
> postholer and snow pack conditions on the PCTA's site, it looks like
> California snowpack is (thus far) almost as low as it could get. Does that
> mean an earlier Sierra-entry date would be *more* safe, or that a standard
> mid-June entry would mean extremely little snow? I'm trying to choose a
> start date (and squeeze as much time out of the early season as I can due
> to August/September obligations), and also determine how essential tools
> like an ice axe and microspikes will be this season. I heard that 2013, for
> example, was a low enough year that many people started in mid-March. Any
> wisdom would be much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks, all!
> Jason
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