Originally Posted by
chef4
I had a valuable learning experience coming down from 1 goose on the AT last year, in September. Made the mistake of overlooking a storm coming from the SW, saw it coming but I thought I’d outrun it to the treeline. I ended up huddled under the krumholz wrapped up in my poncho with a 20-25 degree temp drop and what I estimate as 40 mph wind blowing rain and light hail almost horizontally. Once the electrical activity waned I made a run for it, which involved descending 1/2 mile of slippery high angle granite, grabbing sharp dead cedar branches and slipping in the mud. Main lesson is respect for the speed of weather change in the whites even in a ‘milder’ month like September, and I had the benefit of a full pack with plenty of coverage for weather changes. With a daypack I could have gotten into trouble.