All, will be leaving in two weeks (July 22) and getting excited except for the thought of snow. Was just in Lake Tahoe this weekend hiking and there was still snow on the trails at 8,000-9,000 feet. I am a moderately experienced backpacker (mostly week long or weekend warm weather type trips) but have always avoided snow. I have decent navigation skills. Should I be worried about covered sections of the trail, navigation issues, etc. because of snow cover??? Thanks for the input.
Grubby
IMO, you are worrying over nothing. I’m a 63-year-old non-mountaineer who went through the Sierra nobo and got to Sonora Pass on 2 July. We carried crampons and ice axes and used them maybe 20% of the time on high snow traverses. You should be fine, especially if with others. The most difficult aspect of snow in 3 weeks will likely be its softness and mushiness and postholing tendency, not sliding down to an untimely death.
mango
Heavy snow can slow your roll. With all the passes, it can limit your progress severely from what you are used to, depending on if it's floundering in deep mush or slip-sliding on frozen suncups. Of course the extra snowmelt can make the creek crossings extremely difficult &/or hazardous....so scout your fords with extreme care & take a companion or 2 to make finding trail &/or the route easier. Camping spots might be a bit more difficult too; depending on the distance between passes.
gingerbreadman
Thanks for the info. Understand the more limited camping sites, slow traveling over passes, and potential hazardous creek crossings. From your expereinces what am I looking at in terms of mileage. I can comfortably do 15-20 miles a day now(never tried at this elevation though but am in good shape from triathlons)? And the mention of crampons and ice ax screw my under 20 pound pack, please tell me that is not necessary in what sounds like slush??? I have a feeling after this hike I will be excited to get back to hot weather and the only thing frozen is the ice in my whiskey/ scotch and/or frosted beer glass. 
Grubby
Gubby,
My group started this year in the third week of June on a south bound JMT trip. Unfortunately, I had to bail out at mammoth because my girlfriend came down with the flu.
Navigation:
There was allot more snow than we anticipated and most of the NOBO PCT’ers we ran into told us they had been hiking in snow for the past 100 miles. Above 8000’ had about 70% coverage and anything above 9500’ was 90-100% snow cover. There were days we only saw the trial for a total of 5 minutes. We were able to follow foot prints in the snow most of the way however there were many times we were just walking straight from landmark to landmark or using my GPS to find our way back to something that resembled the trail. Make sure you know how to read a map well and if you have a GPS and know how to use it, bring it.
Mileage:
All of us are in very good shape and spend allot of time outdoors. We planned for an 11 mile per day average, however in the snow and suncups making 9 miles was a real struggle. Those first 3-4 days are going to be hell due to acclimation but after that it will get easier. My advice is to take it easy the first few days and play the rest of the trip by ear. If you’ve hiked 11 miles and still feel you could hike for another 4, go for it so your longer days become shorter.
Equipment:
We did not have ice axes or crampons, however most of the PCT’ers recommended picking up ice axes in Mammoth for Forester and Mather Pass. Most of them wanted to get rid of their ice axes and offered to give them to us. They mentioned they didn’t really need to use them but a $60 dollar ice axe was well worth it when it comes to your life. If you’re worried about the additional weight you can usually find a lightweight ice axe in the 7-8 oz range like the C.A.M.P. USA Corsa Ice Axe, and most of the PCT’ers we ran into didn’t have crampons they had Micro spikes.
I’m going back up today to meet up with the rest of the group and will be back on the 14th. If you have any more questions let me know and I’ll get to them when I get back.
Mr B
I got some ‘Austria Alpin’ spikes from the campmor catalog which you could use with trail running shoes. It’s nice to have something, whether it’s an iceaxe or hiking poles (with snow baskets?) that you can use for balance & self arrest & creek crossings…especially if you are solo on trail. The American Alpine club offers $5,000 rescue insurance on trail, but the British Alpine Club (offshoot of Austrian Alpine or OOstereichischer Alpenverein) offers $50,000 search & rescue insurance for the 1st few weeks of any non-European trek (for the whole time in europe).
gingerbreadman
maybe. First, thank you all for your input and advice. This website and everyones input has been an invaluable resesource in planning this trip. Second, I was able to change my date and will be leaving the middle of August. I am fortunate enough to have a flexible vacation schedule at work. The only compromise was the permit entry point which had to be from Mirror Lake to Sunrise Camp and not the official start of the JMT at Happy Isles…oh well, I have already hiked out Happy Isles anyway. Not that I didn’t want to challenge myself with snow, the trail will be difficult enough, but this is also my first real vacation in a couple years I wanted to hike, think, and enjoy the scenery more then worrying about snow. Thanks again everyone and I would still be interested in any trip reports people have in the next month, so keep posting.
Grubby
I just wanted to do an update after meeting up with the group down the trail and finishing at Whitney. The rest of the group reported that after Reds Meadow it was 95% trail and 5% snow. They used Ice Axes on a few passes just in case but didn’t really need them. If you’re leaving in late July I really wouldn’t worry about the snow. If you have trekking poles I wouldn’t even bother bringing an Ice Axe or crampons/micro spikes.
Mr B