[pct-l] South Sierra conditions...and JeffZ

["Carl Siechert" <csiechert@hotmail.com>]

Bill Berg, Norm Switzer, and I (1977 Kelty Kids) just returned from an 8-day loop in the Golden Trout Wilderness. For those wondering about snow in the Sierra: you won't find any--at least in the south. We climbed Kern Peak (11,510) and didn't encounter any significant patches until 11,000 on the north side. (And even those were thin and easily passable without special equipment.) From the summit, we could see all of the PCT from south of Olancha Peak to Siberian Pass--not a patch of snow anywhere. I suspect the first snow that northbound hikers will see is on Forester Pass.

On the way out, we stopped at the Kennedy Meadows store and found Jeff Zimmerman, with whom we plied this same area in 1977. He arrived on June 10 and is leaving today, June 12. He expects to get to Vermillion Valley ~June 22. He's looking good (better than us after 23 years!) and is having a great time--until we pointed out that most of the people he's hiking with weren't even _born_ when he last hiked the PCT!

Carl Siechert
Coauthor, "Running Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" (Microsoft Press)



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