[pct-l] Snow Safety this April-June

[Ned Tibbits]

John,

Good question!

You'll probably hear in advance, via people and connections along the trail, 
where snow may be covering the trail. Whether you decide to head up and 
check it out for yourself may be based on current temperatures and recent 
weather.

If the snow you've seen thus far has been consolidated and hard, thus easy 
to walk on, suspect the same conditions for the next snow drift or field 
covering the trail. Depth doesn't matter when on consolidated snow because 
you just walk on top of it, anyway. It is the surface conditions you need to 
consider based on your abilities to stay safe dealing with it.

If the snow ahead is on a steep slope, you know the kind of conditions that 
will likely be there, and your snow skills are able to safely deal with what 
you find, then proceed.

However, if you, personally, have any troubles with certain conditions, like 
postholing, suncups, steep, crusty snow, or powder, don't go up.

For example, I have met many a PCT thru hiker make it up to the base of 
Forester Pass, over miles of simple snow-walking, only to assess that the 
"wall" is too much for their skill set, turn around, and hike the 2 or 3 
days back out to Lone Pine.

So, your experience will dictate what you decide to tackle or not.



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: John Papini
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 11:02 PM
To: Lisa Hlavaty
Cc: johnmuirtrail at yahoogroups.com ; <Pct-l at backcountry.net>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Snow Safety this April-June

Hey Ned,

A related question:

A lot of folks say, “and if it looks too bad, just go around and then hitch 
back to hike when the weather has improved.”

Can you offer any advice about how one goes about determining if it is "too 
bad?" When I’m coming up to Lacuna or San Jacinto or Baden Powell, what 
would I need to see, specifically, to say “I should go around” vs. "let’s 
put my snow skills (or, in my case, let’s learn/test my snow skills) to good 
use." I know you teach about and are experienced in snow-hiking and 
encourage earlier hiking windows than Yogi et al, so I’m curious to hear 
your perspective in particular about universal red flags, if any exist.

If I haven’t already betrayed my inexperience, I’ll do so by asking any 
others if they’ve come across any trail journals that are particularly 
useful for getting a sense of what to expect through the snowy portions of 
the PCT? Anything that might shed light on trail conditions, mileage 
changes, food/water consumption, extra gear & where to pick it up and leave 
it, etc.

Thanks!
John

> On Feb 9, 2016, at 4:00 AM, Lisa Hlavaty <lisahlavaty.hiker at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>
> Ned,
> You mentioned before the "secret six week window "where the snow was 
> consolidated and you can hike on that without Postholing, suncups and 
> other issues.  How do you determine when that is each year?
>
> Lisa Hlavaty
>
>>
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