View Full Version : Winter Storm Warning 5 and 6 March
Be careful entering the Smokies. Winter storm Tue and Weds. Fresh snow 2 feet deep will drift to 4 and make hiking impossible. Never enter the park in the face of a Winter storm. Get a back up plan. Wait it out in Fontana or skip the park and shuttle to Davenport Gap and come back for it 2 weeks from now. The trail may be out of commission for a week. At a minimum call the ranger station. If you do get trapped up there, be ready to wait it out for 4 or 5 days. There is no cell service up there and a daring mountaintop helocopter rescue is not part of anyones plan....
Tipi Walter
03-05-2013, 10:56
Be careful entering the Smokies. Winter storm Tue and Weds. Fresh snow 2 feet deep will drift to 4 and make hiking impossible. Never enter the park in the face of a Winter storm. Get a back up plan. Wait it out in Fontana or skip the park and shuttle to Davenport Gap and come back for it 2 weeks from now. The trail may be out of commission for a week. At a minimum call the ranger station. If you do get trapped up there, be ready to wait it out for 4 or 5 days. There is no cell service up there and a daring mountaintop helocopter rescue is not part of anyones plan....
Your cup of tea may be to "never enter the park in the face of a winter storm" but some of us seek out such conditions. Our back up plan is to sit put in a tent for a week and wait it out. Plus, people aren't stupid, they can easily bail off the AT ridge onto side trails and lose 3,000 feet of elevation where snow depths are much lower. Be flexible and seek out the best Miss Nature has to over.
HikerMom58
03-05-2013, 11:16
Your cup of tea may be to "never enter the park in the face of a winter storm" but some of us seek out such conditions. Our back up plan is to sit put in a tent for a week and wait it out. Plus, people aren't stupid, they can easily bail off the AT ridge onto side trails and lose 3,000 feet of elevation where snow depths are much lower. Be flexible and seek out the best Miss Nature has to over.
Sorry Tipi.. that doesn't sound like fun to me. I'm sure you are know what you are doing out there & enjoy it very much :) Heading to the "hills" to sit out a winter storm in a tent for a week? No thanks.
I'd rather go skiing, cross country skiing or snowshoeing after a big snow storm.
Great advice moldy!
fertilizer
03-05-2013, 11:29
There is about 16 inches on top of Leconte according to JP. High yesterday was 16 and the low was a degree. I think they are expecting another 10 inches if I understand the weather report correctly. I hope everyone on the trail either knows what they are doing or has bailed.
Tipi Walter
03-05-2013, 11:33
Sorry Tipi.. that doesn't sound like fun to me. I'm sure you are know what you are doing out there & enjoy it very much :) Heading to the "hills" to sit out a winter storm in a tent for a week? No thanks.
I'd rather go skiing, cross country skiing or snowshoeing after a big snow storm.
Great advice moldy!
The AT is not the only trail in the Park. There are 800 miles of other trails and many are in valleys and therefore much lower. A 2,000 foot snowstorm is much different than a 5,500 foot snowstorm. Seek out the valleys.
HikerMom58
03-05-2013, 12:05
The AT is not the only trail in the Park. There are 800 miles of other trails and many are in valleys and therefore much lower. A 2,000 foot snowstorm is much different than a 5,500 foot snowstorm. Seek out the valleys.
I'd go for the valleys then.. :) If you go to higher, we want pics and "deets". You take great winter pics.. I enjoy them!
Looks like the winter storm, in Roanoke VA, is being downgraded. 1 to 2 inches in the Valley.
SGT Rock
03-05-2013, 13:11
The BMT is mostly in the lower areas. I was told that a few years back when they had the many feet of snow during the thru-hiker season the ATC "authorized" the BMT as an alternate through the Smokies, but I never saw anything official stating that. That would only be if someone felt the need for the ATC to make it official to feel like it was a real hike. Anyone that hikes for their own satisfaction and is happy with an alternate route wouldn't need that sort of thing anyway.
Looks like I might want to go camping tonight.
I always have to work when the best weather comes around. I wish.......
wornoutboots
03-05-2013, 13:50
Your cup of tea may be to "never enter the park in the face of a winter storm" but some of us seek out such conditions. Our back up plan is to sit put in a tent for a week and wait it out. Plus, people aren't stupid, they can easily bail off the AT ridge onto side trails and lose 3,000 feet of elevation where snow depths are much lower. Be flexible and seek out the best Miss Nature has to over.
This make me smile :O) Nothing like the Silence OF Deep Winter Snow
Old Hiker
03-05-2013, 13:51
I always have to work when the best weather comes around. I wish.......
Keep buying those Lotto tickets - SOMEONE has to win, right? Right? Someone? Anyone?
Keep buying those Lotto tickets - SOMEONE has to win, right? Right? Someone? Anyone?
With my luck I would get run over by a truck walking into the lotto office!
Tipi Walter
03-05-2013, 16:56
With my luck I would get run over by a truck walking into the lotto office!
Probably by a snow plow.
Probably by a snow plow.
At least then I get close to some snow!
I vote with Tipi on this one
A week or X days in a tent snuggled in sounds nice to me.
Stay dry, good food, maybe some "hooch" (151 Rum), a Kindle..........livin life large.
Right?
Tipi Walter
03-05-2013, 21:33
I vote with Tipi on this one
A week or X days in a tent snuggled in sounds nice to me.
Stay dry, good food, maybe some "hooch" (151 Rum), a Kindle..........livin life large.
Right?
Can't burn a Kindle so instead I'll have several books, a box of stick incense to brighten the mood, three or four 3-hour candles to warm fingers, and more than enough food. Gotta placate the Tongue.
Your cup of tea may be to "never enter the park in the face of a winter storm" but some of us seek out such conditions. Our back up plan is to sit put in a tent for a week and wait it out. Plus, people aren't stupid, they can easily bail off the AT ridge onto side trails and lose 3,000 feet of elevation where snow depths are much lower. Be flexible and seek out the best Miss Nature has to over.
Reminds me of a quote from CS Lewis regarding A.K. Jenkin, a friend and mentor of his.
"I learned from him that we should attempt a total surrender to whatever atmosphere was offering itself at the moment; in a squalid town to seek out those very places where its squalor rose to grimness and almost grandeur, on a dismal day to find the most dismal and dripping wood, on a windy day to seek the windiest ridge."
Tipi Walter
03-06-2013, 09:59
Reminds me of a quote from CS Lewis regarding A.K. Jenkin, a friend and mentor of his.
"I learned from him that we should attempt a total surrender to whatever atmosphere was offering itself at the moment; in a squalid town to seek out those very places where its squalor rose to grimness and almost grandeur, on a dismal day to find the most dismal and dripping wood, on a windy day to seek the windiest ridge."
I don't completely surrender to Miss Nature---I've had some choice words for her now and then---but she's the Siren of the wind and cold and snow and rain and summer heat and requires my presence as an idiot-witness to her art.
Ox97GaMe
03-06-2013, 20:18
being prepared is the key. I like going out shortly after a storm like this to lay fresh tracks with the snowshoes. Ive been caught in a couple of storms in the Smokies and they arent all that bad compared to some states. We dont have avalanches, subzero temps, and 10s of ft of snow to deal with. As Tipi stated, there are options in the Smokies. If you encounter too much snow, there is usually a trail within a few miles that will afford you the luxury of dropping a couple thousand feet of elevation.
Reports are that there were 3-4 ft drifts at higher elevations last weekend. Reports state 12-18 inches fell yesterday and today. Supposed to be beautiful weather Thur-Sat. Would be a great time to see the park if you have the proper gear.
Tipi Walter
03-06-2013, 20:53
being prepared is the key. I like going out shortly after a storm like this to lay fresh tracks with the snowshoes. Ive been caught in a couple of storms in the Smokies and they arent all that bad compared to some states. We dont have avalanches, subzero temps, and 10s of ft of snow to deal with. As Tipi stated, there are options in the Smokies. If you encounter too much snow, there is usually a trail within a few miles that will afford you the luxury of dropping a couple thousand feet of elevation.
Reports are that there were 3-4 ft drifts at higher elevations last weekend. Reports state 12-18 inches fell yesterday and today. Supposed to be beautiful weather Thur-Sat. Would be a great time to see the park if you have the proper gear.
A couple years ago I was on Hangover Mt at -10F and I got a radio report that Mt LeConte was -22F. So, subzeros are fairly common on the higher elevations. It just so happens that the last two winters here in the Southeast (this one included) have so far been mild although this current storm looks to be the blizzard of the Decade or maybe of The Year. Reminds me a little bit of the Blizzard of '93. That was a kick butt storm with 238 deaths thruout the East.
Other than ridgetop postholing, which in 3 feet of snow with a backpack is hellish---look for side trails off the ridge if possible---there's the nagging horror of SNOWDOWNS. Like blowdowns, snowdowns are common in the Smokies and on trails in the Southeast. It's when a normal green tunnel trail gets blocked with overhanging snow-loaded brush---mainly rhodo-heath and fir/pine/hemlocks. Without a pack such travel is torture---now throw on a 50 or 60 lb pack and you'll end up in the Drone Zone with the lizard-like gaze. It's a great place to be but hard to reach. This current storm of early March 2013 with its heavy wet snow looks to have nothing but Snowdowns. I'll know soon enough.
Maybe one day
03-06-2013, 21:26
I have been in the Smokies on the AT when an unforecasted storm came in and the temps dropped. I was with a Scout troop and we had to bail for the safety of the boys...subzero temps and lots of snow....Not a good place to be when you are responsible not only for your well being but others' also.