[pct-l] PCT north of Cottonwood Pass

[louisewholey at yahoo.com (Louise Wholey)]

We covered 4.6 miles of the PCT north of Cottonwood Pass on a ski 
tour this past weekend from Horseshoe Meadow.  Between problems 
circuiting or removing skis due to 3-4 foot deep and often bare-bottomed 
tree wells, getting lost, and post-holing, we covered only 4 miles in 7
hours, unbelievably slow.  Getting lost was a surprise; even with a
GPS and map (Mt. Whitney High Country 15 minute series equivalent 
with too little detail), trying to follow contours to hit ridges in the
right place is at best very hard.  For long stretches very little of
the trail was visible and only one set of very faint footprints
appeared - intermittently for some of it.  Snow was firm in the
morning due to freezing temperatures at night, but by late afternoon
travel without skis was extremely difficult due to post-holing.

We climbed one steep pass, New Army Pass, not on the PCT, but 
perhaps similar to Forester Pass (steep on the south side).  The top 
of the entire cirque was heavily corniced.  We were able to top it by
climbing a 4 foot vertical section of snow above a very steep
snowfield.  The cornice where we crossed probably broke off earlier -
fortunately not onto us!  We used ice axes but not crampons, as
step-kicking in ski boots gave us solid footing.

A 2005 thru-hiker's Mom


		
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