[pct-l] First Post

Fri Feb 5 13:14:11 CST 2016

Pete,

Since you'll be attending our SAC-PTO course over Forester, you'll have no 
troubles from there north, but for SoCal you might want to get the basics 
like self-arrest and ascent/descent skills down by taking a Snow Basics 
Course.

What Scott said about not missing the snowy sections because they are so 
beautiful is true, but flip or go around if your skills are not up for them.

Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education, Inc.
www.mountaineducation.org
ned at mountaineducation.org

Mission:
"To minimize wilderness accidents, injury, and illness in order to maximize 
wilderness enjoyment, safety, and personal growth, all through experiential 
education and risk awareness training."
-----Original Message----- 
From: SPETE672 at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2016 8:08 AM
To: baidarker at gmail.com
Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net ; njames at aesc.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] First Post

Schroomer,

Thanks for the additional input. We are admittedly concerned with the
potential of lots of snow and ice plus cold in Socal...especially in light 
of a
recent fall near Mt Baldy that ended well in that he was bunged up bad but
survived. Apparently close to where that happened, another hike fell  and
died the day before and another the day after. So as you say, we  are
prepared to wait it out or flip if needed. The same thing will apply in
Sierras...if we don't feel comfortable after Ned's course, then we flip 
those as
well. We are fortunate to not have a hard fixed schedule so do whatever as
needed on waiting etc

Pete  Sandel
President
YNF Consulting LLC
cell: 432.413.9384

In a message dated 2/3/2016 9:53:33 A.M. Central Standard Time,
baidarker at gmail.com writes:

As Pete notes above, in a high snow year the serious snow may  begin as
early as the desert in the San Jacintos and continue through all the  higher
southern mountains, long before coming to the High Sierra.  If you  start
early in this El Nino year, which so far has the Sierra snow pack above 
average
(the skiing has been wonderful for the first time in 4 years) plan to  be
flexible.  Either wait it out and let it melt out, or be OK with  jumping
forward around some of the mountains and coming back to hike them  later.
March 7th is a very early start, even in a low snow year so plan  for real 
cold
in the deserts.  The coldest sections we had in 2010 were  in the deserts
and I was snowed on 3 times in the deserts.  The High  Sierra was over 4 
weeks
of living on snow most of the time.  It was the  best part of any hiking
adventure any of us had ever had, but also the hardest  hiking we'd ever 
done.

On the CDT in 2012, we started very early for that hike, April 11th, and
killed time by hiking slowly across NM, getting off to come to the PCT Kick
Off, and generally waited for the snow in the San Juans to melt out.  We
hit it just right and by starting early were ahead of the monsoons. 
However,
several people 1 to 2 weeks ahead of us had to bail out and backtrack  due
to heavy storms still pounding those mountains.  So if you start  early,
plan to be flexible.  But realize, that March 7th is really,  really early 
if
it's a normal to high snow year.

Shroomer

On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 5:06 AM, Pete Sandel <_spete672 at aol.com_
(mailto:spete672 at aol.com) > wrote:

My  fiancé and I are leaving March 7 with similar plans to to go slow and
easy .  We are doing a 5 day enroute snow course starting past Kennedy
Meadows with  Ned Tibbits. You can get info on his site at mountain 
education. I
think it  looks as though we will get so now and ice as well through SoCal 
so
just  winging it with crampons and whippet if needed. Lots of good info on
Facebook ...The Pacific Crest Trail Class of 2016 and the PCT Class of
2016,!regarding your question . PCTA permits are,open now as,well,so you 
might
want to get that done.

Pete Sandel
YNF Consulting , LLC
Cell- _432.413.9384_ (tel:432.413.9384)

> On Feb 1, 2016, at 10:32 AM, Gordon <_gwmori at hotmail.com_
(mailto:gwmori at hotmail.com) >  wrote:
>
> Additional comment below
>
> Sent from my  iPhone
>
>> On Jan 31, 2016, at 6:59 PM, Gordon Mori <_gwmori at hotmail.com_
(mailto:gwmori at hotmail.com) >  wrote:
>>
>> I have been reading the PCT books which I  understand were written
several years ago.  They seem to suggest the  popular starting time for a
hike-thru S to N to be in late April or early  May.  Although we have had 
quite a
bit of precipitation this  winter,  with the draught over the past few years
I wondered if it  possible to start earlier say in March?  I am 57 years old
and was  hoping to take a more leisurely 5-6 months for the trek and wanted
to avoid  going into the fall.  Is this a bad idea to try to start earlier?
It  seems the problem is the snow in the Sierras. Can one backpack in the
snow  with the proper gear and training?
>>
>>  Regards
>>
>  _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing  list
> _Pct-L at backcountry.net_ (mailto:Pct-L at backcountry.net)
> To  unsubscribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
>  List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>  All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
> Reproduction  is prohibited without express  permission.
_______________________________________________
Pct-L  mailing list
_Pct-L at backcountry.net_ (mailto:Pct-L at backcountry.net)
To  unsubscribe, or change options visit:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

List  Archives:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
All  content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
Reproduction is  prohibited without express  permission.

_______________________________________________
Pct-L mailing list
Pct-L at backcountry.net
To unsubscribe, or change options visit:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

List Archives:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
Reproduction is prohibited without express permission. 