[pct-l] Snow - was long, now not so much

[scrookham at hotmail.com (Sean Crookham)]

I hiked a portion of the JMT and the vicinity in late April/early May of 
2003. Snow was still present in many areas above 9000'. Crampons, Snowshoes 
and Ice Axes were all useful in many areas, especially above 12,000'. All 
the lakes above 9000' were still frozen over. For Thru Hiking purposes, I 
wouldn't recommend trying it before June as we were tested even with the 
equipment we had brought with us. It rained, snowed and hailed almost every 
day on the trail and nighttime temperatures dropped below freezing. On a 
return trip in Late May, snow had receeded from all but the north face areas 
below 10,000'.

Sean aka Tick


>From: Bighummel@aol.com
>To: sjackson@stratmarkgroup.com, pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
>Subject: Re: [pct-l] Snow - was long, now not so much
>Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 11:50:14 EDT
>
>sjackson@stratmarkgroup.com writes:
>
> > Based on your data and other's experiences,
> > what is the typical (or range of) snow pack to be expected at the higher
> > elevations in early May?
>
>Early May is generally too early to enter the Sierras in all but the most
>extremely dry years, UNLESS you are fully prepared and comfortable with 
>long
>distance snow travel, camping and ice climbing.
>
>In extremely dry years there may be no snow up to 9,000 feet, patchy snow
>from 9,000 to 11,500 or so, and solid ice and snow above that.  The passes 
>will
>likely have several (2-4?) feet of snow.  1977 was like this.
>
>In a wet year you will need snowshoes or crosscountry skis in early May and
>be prepared to be snowed on, camp on snow, and deal with storm conditions.
>
>In an average year you may find something in between these two extremes and
>most certainly will require an ice axe, at least in-step crampons and 
>possibly
>snowshoes or crosscountry skis.
>
>IMHO,
>
>Greg
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