I am in the early stages of planning a winter (10/2010)hike of the JMT. I have most of my gear other than boots, and maybe snowshoes if required from a 2002 thru hike of the AT which was also begun in the winter. The biggest unknown is where to pre position food/fuel re supply. I plan on using stuff bags to hand from a tree or bury in snow. I will refill my bear can from the re supply. Any help is appreciated. Thank you
John Everett
John - There’s a good chance that you won’t run into winter conditions on the JMT in October. On my last JMT hike I finished on Whitney on October 9th & had balmy (60’s) daytime conditions & cool nighttime temps (20’s). Other than the high passes and Whitney, the JMT was snow free, bug free, and Ranger free - a great combination. I only ran into 3 other hikers (2 PCT & 1 JMT thrus).
The only challenging situation that I faced was on the multiple switchbacks coming off Whitney on the East (Whitney Portal) side - they were covered in thick ice & I wished that I had my ice-axe. Obviously I survived 
I ran into an old-timer in the Yosemite backcountry who mentioned that during his lifetime (he was in his 70’s) he never saw a major snowstorm in the High Sierra before mid October & often the first major dump occurred in November.
As far as resupplying, I resupplied in Tuolumne & at VVR (Vermillion Valley Resort). In October of '05, VVR’s hiker ‘box’ (its actually a 55 gallon drum) was FULL of extra hiker food from the summer - I was eating mostly freeze dried food that I would never normally buy until I finished the trail. If you plan on going to VVR, make sure to check ahead on their closing date. (BTW if it weren’t for the hiker box, that resupply would have cost a small fortune - the VVR store is pricey)
Happy Trails,
freebird
freebird
I too, am contemplating a deep winter hike of the JMT. I finished the Sierra High Route this Oct. and was thinking of somethng a bit more challenging. I have not found much at all about JMT winter hiking. Does anyone have an info or resources to share?? Thanks in advancce.
Resinstein
Several years ago I read a book written by a man that cached food in order to ski the Sierra. He didn’t finish his trip and was glad to get out of the mountains alive. He and his partner couldn’t find the caches after the snow fell. Everything looked too different, but that was before gps days. Hmmm, I’ll check my books and try to remember the title.
Marcia