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[pct-l] winter JMT travel



I have!

I started from Tuolumne Meadows (after hitching a ride from
a Caltrans truck in on a supposedly closed rode in Feb!) as I
was glad for that because my pack was not what you call
ul!

It was a total gas...I had cached supplies in October before the
gates closed so we had a ample feast after hiking in about
8
miles towards Lyle peak up Lyle canyon. It is flat there as you
know and snow was any where from 3-6 feet deep +  --as long as you
were able to get a good float you would not posthole...and 
postholing with snowshoes is a real downer! But after the
snow consolidated with several melts and freezes we could
walk on top of the snow (aka Sierra Sement!) w/o the ss's.
Stay away from trees and bushes and watch out for hollowed
out snow bridges that freeze over near rocks and are rocky
underneath..no real danger IMO but you can sink out of sight-
just let yourself fall gracefully and dont fight it as you
might get hurt trying to fight against the sinking..and pull
out easy as you can get yourself "mo stuck"!

Gear Overview- Ice axe, 36 " shoes, Tubbs I think. Modified with extra
straps bolted to the shoe to help secure from the seemingly
constant twisting of the shoe; mountaineering plastic boots
(Osolo's (sp) )...with super gaiters GLUED securely to the boot edges,
and zero degree liners, Leiki poles with wide baskets, 50 feet of 7 mm 
dynamic rope,couple snow anchors for the tent (never needed), lots of extra
fuel, -30 degree Dry loft bag, 2 pairs extra socks, firelog
for emergency drying fire, (used once when we got soaked in
stream crossing) -- lots of wicking clothes..NO cotton, 
Don't overheat and then chill, hydrate regularly but not
overly.

Have fun. It was a gas...and 5 miles a day is obtainable (BARELY!)

Be prepared for an awesome serenity and peacefull existance
as well as a serious lack of bugs and bears :-))

The exctasy of pure undistrubed trail was awsome throughtout the 
valley and mountains. It was so quiet you could here your
own pulse! 


Richard




We On Thu, 8 Dec 2005 12:39:32 -0800 (GMT-08:00), dsaufley wrote
> Ask Mtned and Teflon  . . . I believe they have this experience, and 
> it sounds great!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Garret Christensen <garretchristensen@yahoo.com>
> Sent: Dec 8, 2005 12:06 PM
> To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: [pct-l] winter JMT travel
> 
> Have any of you ever snowshoed or x-country skied long
> sections of the JMT in winter?  That's how I'm
> planning on spending my winter break off of school,
> and I'm kind of curious how much I'll be wallowing up
> to my waist in fresh powder struggling to make it 3
> miles in a day and/or getting killed by an avalanche.
> 
> thanks,
> the Onion
> 
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