Has anyone been up in this section this winter? I’m planning 3 days for this short section in a few weeks. I haven’t been up at elevation yet this year, any tips on what to expect would be helpful. I’ve got winter gear and equipment, so I’m not too worried about cold…
Guinness
Here is the weather report from the park this morning:
TUE FEB 6 2007
FOLLOWING IS THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION
INFORMATION, VALID FOR A 24 HOUR PERIOD ENDING AT 7:30 AM.
STATION ELEV HIGH LOW PCPN SNOW DEPTH
SUGARLAND CENTER 1600 30 16 0.00 0
NEWFOUND GAP 5000 15 7 0.00 2
CADES COVE 1900 27 13 0.00 0
OCONALUFTEE 2040 36 17 0.00 0
MOUNT LECONTE 6400 10 2 0.00 4
So it was 7 degrees at Newfound Gap and 2" of snow this morning, Probably 2 degrees and 4" of snow at Ice Water Springs Shelter. (Same as Mt. LeConte Lodge, 4 miles away.
Ed
I’ve done this section in mid-January. Thought it was a hoot and would do it again. I was on snow about 80% of the time and had some good ol’ nasty weather one day. Couldn’t make it’s mind up whether it wanted to rain or snow, so it took turns. I think some kind of traction device, Yak-Traks, crampons, in-step crampons is a good idea for most hikers. It certainly was for me.
Two Speed
You should call the park service for a road report. You may not be able to drive to Newfound Gap to start.
fivecents2
on “DAY 16” (february 27,detailed in our journals on this site), paw-ee and i began our trek thru the smokies last year…we had very deep snow(18-24 inches nearly the whole way)…mostly “post-holing” until the snow froze and then we were able to hike on top of the snow with yak trax (faster!)…the yak trax we used were from our hike in '03 and held up fine,(we attached a cord to them so they wouldn’t slip off our feet as they are prone to do), but a couple of guys were complaining of newer trax, that didn’t hold up well …i really loved mine though…you can FLY over ice with 'em (not as needful in snow)…we also hiked in running shoes (which might be easier on the trax than boots …i dunno)…we were a bit jealous of whoever had made snowshoe tracks in the snow in the smokies…seems like that would’ve helped tremendously in the deep snow…it’s the icy conditions that’ll getcha however…lot’s of steep ups and downs in the smokies…i busted my knee real good when we hiked in '03 (on ice…had just taken off my yak trax and thought i could manage…WRONG!)… our '03 hike occurred a little later in the season (march 9)…less snow but still slippery in some places…if i were you, guinness, and had the time, i’d read a few journal accounts of feb/mar hikers on this site to compare weather conditions for this time of year (feel free to check ours out which compares both our hikes and has pics of smokies snow…it’s “2006…maw-ee and paw-ee”)…i’m not sure but i think the single digit temps that are occurring right now are not typical for the smokies in feb/mar…(weren’t for us)…does anybody know?
maw-ee