Molas to durango - october

imported
#1

anyone have any intel on how much snow i’ll run into walking from molas down to durango in early october? i understand that snow happens, but what does normal early october look like?

i’ll have a gps loaded with the waypoints so i wont get too lost. but if there will be heavy snow i wont even bother.

shiner

#2

shiner,

One tool which may offer some insight is the USDA’s Snotel monitoring system:

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Colorado/colorado.html

You can select a particular monitoring site from the map of Colorado and then you can select a historical date to get a notion of what past snow accumulations might have been in October. Quickly skipping through the past five years for a couple of locations might be beneficial.

FWIW, I also do the same thing for temperatures. I like to look at the nightly lows for the past five or so years to get an idea of how cold it might get at night, and then I bring gear that is appropriate. Nothing says that you won’t run into an “outlier” event during your hike, but at least it’s a starting point.

Loup

#3

thanks loup. in looking at the last 4-5 years at columbus basin, it looks like the temp holds in a range from a few below freezing to the mid 40’s, and snow is usually zero but there was a bit (less than 12 inches) a few years ago. a little history of rain, but i can manage that.

looks like a big green light. sweet.

shiner

#4

There is a storm in the area today and the La Platas (where the trail goes) is very snowy right now above 10,000’. Good chance it will all be gone before you come. You should keep an eye on the weather and pick a four day period where no precipitation is forecast then go for it.

bearcreek

#5

thanks bearcreek. great advice.

i’m guessing given the temps it warms up and melts away pretty fast still?

shiner