Sierra Snow Report
Just a quick snow update for the High Sierra’s from Kennedy Meadows to Mount Whitney:
I was the 2nd thru-hiker to head north from Kennedy Meadows this year, leaving KM on 5/31. I hiked for 5 days, exiting the Sierra’s over Trail Crest, near the summit of Mt. Whitney on 6/4. The first heavy snow i encountered was on the shoulder of Olancha (Map G10), but route finding was relatively easy. There were patches of snow mostly above 10,000’ and especially on the north facing slopes. The trail was mostly snowbound from Trail Pass (G12)until the saddle above Poison meadow(G13), but once again, the route-finding was easy in this section. The Cottonwood Pass area was snowbound as well. The area from the Chicken Spring Lake outlet to the Rock Creek trail was more difficult to route-find. 3 other thru-hikers had caught up to me by this point: Dave, Michele, and Roboto. All of us got lost trying to find the rock creek trail/PCT intersection. Rock Creek itself was raging rapids, but there were plenty of downed trees to cross. After Rock creek, the PCT was mostly exposed until the Pass northeast of Guyot (G15). Route finding from here to Crabtree Meadows was not too difficult. Exititng the PCT over Trail Crest was a challenge. The Switchbacks up Muir were mostly burried in ice/snow, so i climbed the loose scree (dangerous) and then glissaded the east face (extremely steep) of Muir after reaching the crest @ 13,500’. Glissading this slope is only recommended when the snow has softened a bit.
I used my ice axe a lot in this section, especially from Crabtree Meadows to Whitney Portal. I did not have crampons and really did not need them.
I chose to flip flop to Canada because i was tired of the snow and i have thru-hiked the PCT in a heavy snow year before ('97). The Sierra’s are definitely passable, its just slow going and lots of route finding. I was averaging 13 to 14 miles a day in the snow, versus 20 without snow.
I’m in Seattle right now, heading south from Manning on Saturday, June 18th - hoping to finish the PCT on the summit of Whitney by the end of September.
Happy Trails to All,
freebird
freebird