PCT Thoughts For AT Friends: The Sierra Mountains

[Chance09]

I typed these up as notes on facebook for my friends to read but I think this would be a good place for them as well.

Don’t get me wrong, when I mentioned in the post about the kickoff and all of the fear mongering going on, I didn’t mean that the PCT is not dangerous. It’s just that most of it can be dealt with easily by the use of a little common sense. Unfortunately REI doesn’t sell common sense.


The PCT is and can be dangerous. I really can’t envision a situation on the AT where you’d be in dire straits for more than a few hours or couldn’t find a way into town in case of an emergency. The PCT is very remote at times and in those very remote places you aren’t likely to have phone service to call for help so don’t rely on your phone.

This year was a 150% snow year in the Sierra Mountains and while it made for slow walking it was absolutely beautiful. I feel bad for the people who flip flopped around to miss the snow. I think of snow as just another part of hiking.

Going into the Sierra Mountains I had no experience hiking in the snow and using an ice axe prior to the PCT and I was just fine. I didn’t carry any sort of traction device although I did screw some screws into the bottoms of my trail runners, most of which I ended up taking out anyways. I carried a Camp Corsca Ice axe (7 ounces) one of the sturdiest and lightest you’ll find and it worked great. I wouldn’t have wanted to cross and climb some of the passes without it.

I have never done anything as intense in my life as climb a mountain pass up a steep snowy slope knowing that if I slip and don’t stop myself immediately I may slide full speed into some rocks or even off a cliff. At best you would just slide down to the bottom and have to start climbing it over again. It makes for some very mentally exhausting days when you’re on edge ready to react instantly at the first sign of trouble. It also makes for some of the most rewarding hiking I’ve ever done.



Bear Canisters
Yes they’re required, but personally I think they’re a joke. I love bears and I’m all about keeping them alive but I don’t see how they really help all that much. Seldom could I fit everything I was carrying that was smelly inside my bear canister and I had one of the largest ones on the market. Any larger and I would have needed a new pack to carry it.

Bear Canisters don’t keep the bear from being able to smell your food, just eating it so you can still have problems with bears in camp anyways. That said I only saw two bears in the Sierra Mountains and both were from a distance. Neither wanted anything to do with me. I was careful about where I camped and where I cooked and I think that was what made the difference. I also kept anything with a strong odor inside the OPsak odor proof bags. I think they make a huge difference.

Maps
Don’t think you have to have a GPS to make it through the snow. Yea there isn’t a white blaze every 100 yards but it’s not that difficult. I made it through the snow just fine with maps from the Wilderness Press Guidebooks. They’re not the best but they serve their purpose. I really like that they show every single switchback. If I did it again I would print out and use halfmile’s maps. I think of all the maps I saw they were the best, plus they were free.

Don’t assume the footsteps you’re following through the snow are going the right way or are on the trail.

Don’t even worry about staying on the trail in the snow. If you need to go from point A to point B just walk right across the snow even if the trail took some winding path to get there.

Resupply
I wouldn’t recommend taking a straight shot through the Sierra Mountains in the snow. A big day was 20 miles and they weren’t easy. Sometimes we’d hike for 10 – 13 hours and only cover 20 miles.

My appetite also increased with the altitude. I was eating like I was on the AT before the Sierra Mountains and with the altitude my appetite increased dramatically. There is no way I could have carried enough food. Going out to resupply at Kearsarge Pass wasn’t bad. It’s a few miles out of the way and quite a bit of elevation but I’d do it again. There’s a subway in town there and I think it was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.

Carry an extra days worth of food, you’ll thank me for it later.

Mt. Whitney
It’s the highest mountain in the lower 48…you’re in the best shape of your life…you might as well do it while you’re there.


Gaiters
If I had to hike through this much snow again I would buy myself a pair of snow gaiters. I did the first stretch of the Sierra Mountains in my kilt since the PO messed up and I didn't get my package with my pants. My shins were raw 99% of the time from postholing. Snow gaiters would have been really nice to have.

Fording Streams
I'm stubborn. If there was a stream in my way I crossed it no matter what. I wouldn't necessarily suggest doing this. I'm pretty comfortable crossing streams and in the water. There was only three streams I had trouble with: one because It was raging rapid only about 15 feet across, the second because I crossed where it was over my head, and the third because I was letting Princess use my trekking poles since she had broken hers and I had nothing to help me balance.

If a stream looks too gnarly for you to cross you can always wait until early in the morning when there is less snowmelt going into it. Also look around for a better place to cross. Most had downed trees you could walk across and I seldom crossed where the trail did.

Everyone suggests unclipping your sternum strap and hip belt when crossing a stream in case you go under, I beg to differ. I got in over my head and my pack acted like a life jacket. With a bear cannister you have something the size of a five gallon bucket full of air on your back. It should float...at least for a while. I wouldn't want to be stuck in the Sierra Mountains with no pack either. I think i'd rather drown then die from hypothermia or exposure.

Socks
I've got my socks down to a science. I only wear Darn Tough Socks but I wear different ones for different occasions. When my feet are going to be wet but will have a chance to dry and it's not overly cold I wear the coolmesh 1/4 sock. My feet are usually dry within a20 minutes.

In the Sierra Mountains I wore the 1/4 Merino wool socks with the cushion on the bottom. My feet were wet and never had a chance to dry out. The wool was much warmer for extended periods of cold and wet but they do take forever to dry.

[Tilly]

Thanks Chance for typing all this up for us!

[Sly]

One reason you may not have seen very many bears in the Sierra was because of the early season and the snow. Normally they are very active and hanging your food just does not work, where bear canisters do. Bears have been known to walk in, and out, of a camp where canisters are present.

[StormBird]

I've read a few trail journals by PCT'ers that hiked this year and alot said that they postholed through the Sierras. Do you think that it would be worth getting snow shoes in a mail drop before you head into the Sierras?

[Miner]

Well, Rolling Thunder, who hiked in the big snow year of 2006 was happy with using snowshoes when he entered at the beginning of June. Most hikers shun them though as not worth the weight. As to their worth, I think it would depend on the snow levels the year you hike (check them in April), how early you are entering the High Sierra and how heavy your pack already is.

[Suttree]

Based on my exp this year (early entry, above avg snow), I suggest no. You can compensate by timing the high passes:

(1) Wake up early and approach the pass while the snow is hard to minimize postholing.
(2) Ascend as the snow softens so you can kick steps.
(3) Slide down before everything turns to mush.

Timing will vary with weather.

-ed

P.S.
Don't get phreaked out by hikers' complaints. Exagerated complaints about everything and everybody are one of the secret pleasures of long distance hiking. Also, it is a sneaky way to talk up the difficulty of an adventure. OMG the snow was SO HARD! I AM A HERO!

Effective coping strategies on a difficult hike, though. Swear at the snow and push on.

[StormBird]

^ true that. I experienced alot of that on the AT this year. But I also expereinced the flip side, where people would downplay the challenge to make themselves seem more tough and then i was misinformed and under prepared.

I've done alot of snow shoeing and mountaineering in wintery conditions in my 5 years out in Seattle, so I'm pretty experienced with all of that. I just know that I've ascended steep mountain passes with a heavy pack and no snow shoes and was hating every minute. I was just wondering if it was the type of postholing where you'd be lucky to cover 5 miles in a day. If that were the case, I'd rather have snow shoes to keep my sanity in tack.

[Suttree]

I was just wondering if it was the type of postholing where you'd be lucky to cover 5 miles in a day. If that were the case, I'd rather have snow shoes to keep my sanity in tack.

Based on my experience (snow in SanJacinto/Baden Powell/Sierras in May/June) - no. The snow is well consolidated; it can be deep, but only as the air temp rises do you begin to punch through. Usual caveats - tree/rock wells etc.
Complaints aside, we were able to do a pass/day. First group went in May 31 and reported a similar experience. Since it was an above avg year, this ought to generalize(?) Only others with more experience would know....

-ed
http://picasaweb.google.com/weschmi
(Whitney-Mammoth: Days 47-49,52-58)

[Suttree]

BTW - after reading your journal, I note that you have more "mountaineering" experience than myself and many(most?) of the hikers who punched through the snow (sans snowshoes) early this year.

A post by "Sandman" (not me) might put things in perspective:
http://www.trailjournals.com/gbookv....trailname=9246

[Chance09]

Do snowshoes work In deep and large sun cups?

[Suttree]

Chance wins

[Trailbender]

Yeah, parts of the AT are dangerous as well, descents on some of the mountains in NH, and going over the smokies this year with all the ice and snow.

[Chance09]

Do snowshoes work In deep and large sun cups?

Actually does anything work to get across large deep sun cups?

[Suttree]

Pain and suffering and
a snow bridge formed
from the distilled
tears of ten thousand marmots

[burntoutphilosopher]

^^ i'm fond of a hovercraft for this function... quieter than the conventional helicopter.

[sbhikes]

Fearmongering is what bugs me about the PCT-L. It's not that hard. The Sierras are hard. A lot of people don't have much fun there. It's only fun afterward.

I don't think postholing is all that terribly common for a PCT thru-hike. Usually the snow is cement-like. You may posthole here and there, but not for miles and miles. If you have snowshoes, you could have them waiting for you somewhere like KM, Lone Pine or Independence and then you could send them home if word going around is the snow isn't bad.

[leaftye]

I would have snowshoes waiting for me at KM if I was going into the Sierras well ahead of the pack...like the first aside from MtnNed's Sierra trip. That was my plan this year, but then we decided to take our time so the snow would melt, and then I got hurt and am still recovering.

Fearmongering is sometimes due to bad advise, but sometimes due to bad listening. Like at Warner Springs someone asked me what I thought of the snow in the San Jacintos. I told them it was tough and I quit. That was true, but if they hadn't immediately walked away I would have said that it was just too much work at that time and the appeal of going to kickoff drew me out of the mountains. I also figured that if I did something dumb and got hurt, there might not be any thru hikers behind me for another week. At one time I got told that Devils Slide was a solid rock wall with the trail blasted into it, but it was frozen into nothing much more than a frozen wall of ice with a few toe holds. It's really nothing like that.

[BrianLe]

"I don't think postholing is all that terribly common for a PCT thru-hike."

I think that's true so long as the hiker makes rational plans; the norm is to get up early, get up and over your pass-for-the-day and back down before the afternoon sun warms up the snow too much. In the case of Muir Pass, you might end up doing some postholing regardless as in that case it doesn't go back down again for quite some time. And occasionally you might push to do two passes in a day.

I started into the Sierras on June 7th in 2008 and had not the slightest desire for snowshoes, FWIW. Of course different start times and annual conditions can vary, but I would at most have snowshoes ready to be mailed at home in case you get solid data showing that you really need and will want them.

[sbhikes]

Everybody talks about the snow in the Sierra but what scared me most were the stream crossings. I actually had to swim across a couple of streams. Like you said, my pack was like a bobber on my back keeping me afloat.

The other thing I had trouble with that is hardly ever mentioned is the quality of the landscape at high altitude. I did not like it. Up there way above all the trees I felt like I was on the moon. I got this panicky freaked out feeling. The only thing going through my mind was "I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here." It was difficult to deal with all by myself. I thought it had something to do with being tired from 800 miles of hiking, but I went back this summer for 4 days and I still felt that way. I ran down from Muir Pass because I felt so ill-at-ease. I didn't feel happy again until I was surrounded by trees. On the PCT, I didn't feel happy again until the trail no longer went above 10,000 feet. I was in heaven in Northern California with all the trees and flowers.

I learned yesterday that others feel that way at altitude, too. I can breathe just fine. I actually feel like I can breathe better. I can run up the mountains while others struggle. But the altitude freaks out my mind.

[Chance09]

Ya postholing was never really an issue for me. I think on my whole trip I probabbly post holed under 100 times. Most of the time it was just because I was walking during the wrong time of the day or was trying to do two passes in a day.

I would recommend some snow gaiters because post holing or not my shins got pretty torn up.