are crampons and and ice axe going to be enough to trek through the snow areas. from south to north or will it be way to much roping and climbing.
wolfpaw
April 5 start - Pacific Crest Trail
system
#2
This year there was no need at all for them, but super low snow year. Started the 27th of April and had to just walk across like a 10 foot patch up at 13,000 feet on Forester. If you got to worry just flip past.
Guino
system
#3
This year there was no need at all for them, but super low snow year. Started the 27th of April and had to just walk across like a 10 foot patch up at 13,000 feet on Forester. If you got to worry just flip past.
Guino
system
#4
Wolfpaw,
It’s too early to tell what next year will be like (wait until March). However, most years, until you get to the Sierras, almost all snow covered areas in SoCal do not require anything beyond trekking poles. There are a few exceptions (Fuller Ridge in the San Jacintos is the main worry but you can road walk around it if it proves too difficult for your comfort level).
Even people who have entered the Sierras in May only took snowshoes, crampons and an ice axe to travel. I’ve never heard of anyone needing to rope themselves and do any climbing other then some minor scrambling. The Funk Brother’s 1975 PCT journal here on TrailJournals had a May9th entry into the Sierras. Those who entered the Sierras in early June 2006 had conditions more typical of early May so check out Rolling Thunder’s 2006 PCT journal. In most years, most people who enter in June only take an Ice Axe into the Sierras for the passes and carry no snow gear anywhere else other then their treking poles.
If 2008 proves to be anything like 2007, even a late Feburary start would encounter conditons below what a normal late April start would be in a normal snow year. The snow levels in late March in the Sierras were already below the normal June 15th levels so I don’t know why more people didn’t start early this year. Many people were unable to properly finish their hikes this year due to early snow hitting Washington. If they had taken advantage of the low snow levels this year, they could have started much earlier and had plenty of time to finish.
Miner