View Full Version : Heavy snow in GNP
This is a tough year for CDT SOBOs. It has been raining like crazy for several days, with a couple more days of the same ahead of us. I had planned to backpack in the Belly River area last weekend but changed plans because of the cold, wet, and mud.
At higher elevations, it is snowing heavily. (I can't wait to see what the peaks look like when the clouds lift.)
The winter's heavy snowfall and large number of avalanches has delayed the installation of seasonal bridges.
It's a mess out there! Things are supposed to improve later this week. Maybe summer will try again.
A flip-flop year. If Glacier is hikeable at all.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
Started at the Belly River TH(right before the border) SOBO on June 23 2010 with 2.5 ft of snow covering the trail for my CDT thru-hike. I hiked with no trail for the first almost 3 days. It was tough with the trail under many ft of snow. I finally came to a trial junction sign on day 3 finding the sign quite by accident when I almost fell into a snow well. The wooden trail junction sign was 2 ft down the well which I assume made the snow depth some 5-6 ft. I think this was at the lowest elev I had been at for those three days. I can only guess the snow depth on the northern side of the passes I wandered over.
I hitched a ride on Going to the Sun Rd on the first day the road was completely open. The snow level at Logan Pass was 27 ft deep. It's strange walking/driving around in that deep of a plowed narrow snow canyon(the plowed walkways and roadways). It was intensely beautiful though and worth every step even when I had no trail to follow. I'd do it again.
rocketsocks
06-18-2014, 01:11
Hey here's one, wait, I've never been on the CDT before, but the OP didn't really ask a specific question...ah what the hell.
Hi Marta, it's 91 degrees here right now, NJ, hope those clouds lift and your able to start hikin soon...do be careful up there! :)
LOL. The stuff I've done. I hit my first road on the end of Day 3. FINALLY, found a dry campsite next to a waterfall on night 3. Then it rained practically non stop for 6 days. It was glorious now that I'm sitting at a keyboard relating it as you too will Marta. Stay with it! Glacier NP with that snow cover is a magical place. You're from MT anyhow so you are used to this stuff. LOL.
Different Socks
06-18-2014, 02:13
Recent precip forecasts for GNP is 1-2 feet of new snow!!
rocketsocks
06-18-2014, 02:23
LOL. The stuff I've done. I hit my first road on the end of Day 3. FINALLY, found a dry campsite next to a waterfall on night 3. Then it rained practically non stop for 6 days. It was glorious now that I'm sitting at a keyboard relating it as you too will Marta. Stay with it! Glacier NP with that snow cover is a magical place. You're from MT anyhow so you are used to this stuff. LOL.Cracks me up how jersey shuts done after 4" of snow. Buffalonians (is that a word) must laughs their wings off...don't even get me started about Florida...er was it Atlanta.
rocketsocks
06-18-2014, 02:25
Recent precip forecasts for GNP is 1-2 feet of new snow!!
yeah, that's a bit of snow now :-?
Started at the Belly River TH(right before the border) SOBO on June 23 2010 with 2.5 ft of snow covering the trail for my CDT thru-hike. I hiked with no trail for the first almost 3 days. It was tough with the trail under many ft of snow. I finally came to a trial junction sign on day 3 finding the sign quite by accident when I almost fell into a snow well. The wooden trail junction sign was 2 ft down the well which I assume made the snow depth some 5-6 ft. I think this was at the lowest elev I had been at for those three days. I can only guess the snow depth on the northern side of the passes I wandered over.
What a "hike" that must have been!
My husband and I did a day hike on Saturday (when the rain was relatively light) around a low-elevation area we thought would be free of snow. Wrong! There were long sections through snow. We hadn't brought traction devices, but fortunately the snow was soft enough that wasn't a problem. We did get to an area where there's a permanent bridge across a creek. The bridge had collapsed, and we didn't feel like getting soaked crossing a raging creek, and then hiking for a couple more hours in the cold, so we turned around.
Plowing the GTTS Rd. starts in early April, with the aim to have it complete by around June 20th. They probably won't make that deadline this year. (Plowing was suspended yesterday because of the weather.) Before the road opens to cars, it's open for biking and hiking. A smooth road through breath-taking scenery, with no cars--from early May through the end of June it's some of the best cycling there is.
As Socks said, the forecast called for 1-2' of fresh snow at 6500' and above. I'm down at around 3000', and got a couple of inches of snow yesterday. (It didn't do my tomato and pepper plants any good.) I bet there was even more snow than forecast at the higher elevations.
Paddlefoot
06-18-2014, 09:45
Hi Marta,
I've read your posts before, and it sounds like you have good local knowledge.
I read somewhere that Glacier tends to get less snow during El Nino winters, and apparently they are predicting one for next year.
Any truth to that? I'm thinking about a SOBO CDT hike in 2015.
Hi, Paddlefoot--
I don't know about the relationship between el Nino and the snow here.
Since I work for a ski resort, lack of snow is a bad thing as far as I'm concerned. :)
Whatever the weather, between now and then build your snow travel and river crossing skills as much as you can. The Park is quite hiker-friendly compared to the wilderness areas immediately to the south.
Good luck on your hike!
Feral Bill
06-18-2014, 10:20
Just a reminder: Avalanches can kill you dead.
Slo-go'en
06-18-2014, 10:50
Maybe the glaciers will come back to Glacier NP. It was quite remarkable to see the "before" (1920's) and "after" (today) pictures of the park. The glaciers had receded 50% or more and many disappeared completely. I forget the exact number, but something like half the named glaciers from the early 1900's are gone.
There is one little spot of snow still visible at the top of King Ravine on the side of Mt Adams here in the Whites. There's a bit more lingering on Washington.
Pedaling Fool
06-18-2014, 11:35
Glaciers been on the retreat in that area (as well as other areas) since the end of the little ice age, ~1850. I say good, rather see green than white; a lot more biodiversity in the absence of glaciers.
Feral Bill
06-18-2014, 14:10
Glaciers been on the retreat in that area (as well as other areas) since the end of the little ice age, ~1850. I say good, rather see green than white; a lot more biodiversity in the absence of glaciers.
Areas around glaciers are actually quite diverse. And for many years, maybe centuries, you will be seeing bare rock and soil. The seasonal water storage in mountain glaciers is also vital to many areas world wide.
All that said, any current addition to Glacier's glaciers is little and most likely temporary.
Different Socks
06-18-2014, 15:27
Just a reminder: Avalanches can kill you dead.
"kill you dead"---isn't that being redundant?
Feral Bill
06-18-2014, 15:40
"kill you dead"---isn't that being redundant? +Why yes, it is. Why do you ask?
Cracks me up how jersey shuts done after 4" of snow. Buffalonians (is that a word) must laughs their wings off...don't even get me started about Florida...er was it Atlanta.
NJ shutting down pales in comparison to how quickly places like Asheville NC, Greenville SC, or Atlanta GA basically assume a state of emergency with some cold weather near the freezing mark and the barest of precipitation. Heck, just some patchy ice on Ashevile roads and I've seen them shut down the public schools for 2-3 days even after all the ice has melted away.
SunnyWalker
06-26-2014, 22:47
I am in GNP n hiked over Red Gap Pass. The slides were nice, the snow firm n good footing. I gave up on way up Piegan Pass. The crossing of Cataract was too dangerous. I am wanting to jump south a ways n come back after for this part I jumped. I would appreciate input on this. I am looking at snow map trying to select an area that will be ok of snow when I arrive. I came up with Helena or Butte. I m at a hostel at East Glacier. I think that Maria's Pass right now will be more of same.
Ps. I started at Chief Mtn on June 21.