[pct-l] PCT on Backcountry Skis

[wayneskraft at comcast.net (Wayne Kraft)]

This topic keeps coming up.  I thought I posted something about it  
awhile back but I can't remember for sure and I can't find any  
evidence of my post, so here goes:  In around 1975 four xc skiers  
from the Portland, Oregon area skied most of the PCT in Oregon.  They  
started at Mt Hood first week of March and had to contend with 7 feet  
of snow during the first week that slowed them down and caused them  
to skip part of the Mt Jefferson Wilderness due to avalanche danger.  
They had friends ski into supply them at various points along the way  
I skied in with supplies at the end of their first week with  
hilarious results I won't elaborate on unless I'm begged.  Two of the  
four travelers are still in the area.  A guy named Jerry Igo was the  
trip leader  I am pretty sure Jerry told me he was 60 years old on a  
backpacking trip the about a year later.  That would make him about  
90 now, but I note that he is leading a wildflower appreciation trip  
in the Columbia Gorge in April, so I don't know if he is still hiking  
at 90 or was kidding around with me way back when.  Couldn't be under  
80.  Another member of the group was June Fleming, author of the Well  
Fed Backpacker, who still lives in the Portland area I think  Anyway,  
these folks would be a wealth of information about the practical  
aspects of making such a journey.  If anyone is seriously interested,  
I can probably look them up, but times a-wastin' if Jerry's really 90.

Wayne Kraft