Re: [pct-l] Forester Pass

["Chris Bailey" <hikertrash@earthlink.net>]

> From: Slyinmd@aol.com
> To: hikertrash@earthlink.net; pct-l@backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Forester Pass
> Date: Friday, February 19, 1999 1:24 PM
> 
> In a message dated 2/19/99 3:02:22 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
> hikertrash@earthlink.net writes:
> 
> << 5)  Good for probing the thickness (or thinness) of snow bridges >>
> 
> Ahem, where am I likely to find these?  I guess I haven't been reading my
> guide book nearly enough.
> 
> Sly

Sly:

I don't know where you'll find them this year (if at all), but in '98 they
were an issue through the High Sierra on and off from Cottonwood Pass to
Tahoe.

I had had a bad experience with one collapsing on me in the Cascades one
summer and was very leary.  I didn't trust them at first on the hike, but
eventually decided they were better than fording in a lot of cases.  We had
so much snow that in places there were no visible creeks (especially in the
higher elevation basins).

This is one of those things where you really have to develop a feel, but
alot of snow bridges are generally pretty strong.  Having said this, I
would:  trust them more in the mornings than afternoons or evenings; never
cross questionable ones above an objective hazard (rapids, long, unbroken
bridges where you might get sucked under and pinned by the force of the
water); experiment with their strength in a relatively controlled setting
the first few times until you have a "feel;" learn to recognize where there
may be water flowing under the snow-pack and how to judge whether it poses
a hazard.

As far as technique:  if you're committed to crossing one, I'd recommend
taking a run at it so that if the bridge collapses, your momentum may carry
you across.  I'd avoid stepping in the very middle (where they tend to get
thinnest first).  I'd have my ice axe at the ready so that I could
self-arrest if necessary.  I'd think about having my hip-belt unbuckled.

Hope this helps.

Chris

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