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[pct-l] El Nino and snowshoes
Alan made a great speech in favor of adventurism and keeping an open mind to
the adversities El Nino may bring next spring. In fact, I've been making
contingency plans of my own should things during bad. Essentially, I'd
start later from Campo, wait for the excess snow to melt as much as possible,
and head north until the seasons came full turn (Crater Lake, ie).
As for trying to barge through deep snow on a Jardine schedule (or earlier),
though, would snowshoes really be a wise idea? Or crampons? I've come to
understand the snow problem as having nothing to do with postholing through
the deep stuff (which snowshoes could resolve), but rather that more snow
means more of the PCT will be subject to icy, hardpack conditions where you'd
need to worry about sliding accidents. So, if the main concern with snow
on the PCT during a thru-hike is in sliding or falling, and the remedy to
this problem is your ice axe and self-arrest skills, wouldn't snowshoes or
crampons greatly endanger you as you attempted to stop your sliding body on
an axe pick and your two feet?
- Blister>Free, pct '98
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