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[pct-l] Snow! Yikes!



Hi all.  I've been reading this list for a while now, and I finally have something I need to ask about.
 
I've been following the snow levels along the PCT (thanks very much to Mark Dixon for his page -- it's great) and there's a growing knot in my stomach about the snow in the Sierra.  I've been planning to hike the California section of the PCT this summer, but I need to be done by August 15th for school which may preclude waiting for the snow to melt.
 
So I'm toying with the idea of doing the Washington and Oregon sections of the trail instead.  It seems as though the snow in the Cascades isn't nearly as bad, though of course since it's further north it'll take longer to melt.  I was thinking that if I got on the trail in Ashland on June 1st, I could finish in Manning Park by mid-August without too much trouble.  But I don't know if there will be even more snow in Oregon in June than there would be in the Sierra, even with the terrific amounts of snow they're getting.
 
Does anyone have any comments/ideas/suggestions?  My other option would be to start in Campo later so I'll hit less snow and not do all of California.  This will be my first long-distance hike; I won't be disappointed if I don't do all of California or anything like that but I'd like to avoid taking a huge layover just waiting for snow to melt.  I know how to navigate on snow and I know how to use an ice axe, but I don't know if I'm ready for a winter-condition traverse of the Sierra...
 
Thanks!  This list has been fantastic.
 
-Moishe