[pct-l] jmt in june

[scourtway@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Steve Courtway)]

20 ft. of snow on the trail maybe a little exaggeration
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

----- Original Message -----
From: "dude" <dude@fastmail.ca>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 9:01 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] jmt in june


> --
> Nic - I am not really too certain what the snow levels are like this
> year in the high sierra, however, they were recently hit with a semi-
> late season storm that dumped tons of snow up there.  Late season
> large storms are not at all uncommon in the sierra nevada.  I have
> snow skied at Squaw Valley with 100% of the park open on July 4th
> (the PCT may even go through Squaw Valley, I forget).
>
> I am sure that a JMT hike is *possible* on June 9th, but it doesnt
> sound like fun to me.  My totally uneducated guess is that there will
> be TONS of snow all over the place on June 9th.  This snow report
> indicates that this is a fairly typical year:
> ftp://ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/data/snow/update/ca.txt  most of the
> stations are reporting near 100% of normal.
>
> When you say "I assume the peaks have a bunch but is there a lot on
> the trail at lower elevations?", you have to understand that the
> majority of the JMT is around 10,000ft. Therefore, the "trail at
> lower elevations" is still about 9,000-10,000 ft.  In fact, besides
> yosemite valley, the trail only dips below 8,000 ft three times, and
> each of those is immediately followed by climbs over 11,000-12,000
> passes.  Here is an elevation profile to help you get the picture:
> http://www.pcta.org/images/elevation_big.gif
>
> I have heard/read about people doing JMT hikes in june and seen pics
> with lots of snow all over the place, so if you are into that type of
> hiking in snow, where the trail and signs/markers are under 20+ feet
> of snow for miles on end, where the passes have so much snow that
> your "hike" is more like mountaineering, where the stream runoff is
> deep and fast, and the standing water in the meadows makes the
> mosquitoes as thick as the smog in L.A., then I would say that you
> will have a great time.  However, if you are looking forward to a
> nice summer-time hike where the trail is easy to find, you won't need
> to know mountaineering skills, and you won't have to carry more deet
> than water, then you may want to reconsider the date (or is that date
> is set in stone, perhaps reconsider the destination).
>
> I am not trying to scare you off, but I am trying to paint a
> realistic picture of what it *could* be like on the JMT on June 9th.
> I did the JMT the last two weeks of august in 1998 (200% of normal
> snow), and there were still sections of the trail that were under 20
> ft of snow.  We all had to use our ice axes too.  We even got snowed
> on one night!
>
> In any event, good luck!
>
> peace,
> dude
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > I was planning on leaving to hike the john muir trail around the
> > 9th of June and I was wondering about how much snow is usually on
> > the trail at this time. I assume the peaks have a bunch but is
> > there a lot on the trail at lower elevations? Does anyone have any
> > guesses on how this year's snow melt will differ from other years
> > and how passable the trail will be? Also would it make much of a
> > difference whether I hiked N-->S or S-->N in encountering snow?
> > Thanks a lot!
> >
> > Nic
> >
> >
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