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Snow Pack.

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Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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  • February 3, 2016 at 2:51 pm #78833
    Timothy F
    Participant

    I’m a bit concerned about the forthcoming snow this year. That last report showed as much as 130% in some places. How does this affect the timing of when to go?

    Plus we haven’t finished winter yet. Should I place multiple reservations trying to hedge my bets on the snow pack?

    February 3, 2016 at 3:11 pm #78835
    Jeff Hester
    Keymaster

    Timothy,

    Snow pack can always be a concern. Both times that I’ve hiked the JMT there have been passes that were completely snow covered. Probably better to count on it.

    On the bright side, the trail is well traveled, so (assuming it’s not FRESH snow) you’ll have a pretty well compacted path to follow.

    When are you planning on going?

    February 4, 2016 at 9:40 am #78854
    Timothy F
    Participant

    At the moment, I’m planning on late July to early Aug.

    Sending faxes now …

    February 5, 2016 at 4:06 pm #78904
    Jeff Hester
    Keymaster

    I wouldn’t worry about it. You’ll likely have some snow on some of the passes, but that’s to be expected. Sometimes that even helps smooth out the trail!

    February 8, 2016 at 3:49 pm #78955
    Oshie M
    Participant

    Hi Timothy! We’re going this summer, too! Mid-Aug for us. With this year’s El Niño, we’re actually getting concerned on the water crossings. There’ll be, us3 ladies that barely made it past the 5-foot mark on the height chart LOL. Hoping to find up-to-date water/trip reports before we leave for ours 🙂 Hope you’re having fun planning!

    February 8, 2016 at 4:00 pm #78956
    Jeff Hester
    Keymaster

    That’s a great point, Oshie! Snow can typically be handled (with care). High water crossings would be more of a concern.

    When we hiked the JMT back in 2010, there were only two “boots off” crossings on the entire trip — at Bear Creek and again at the entrance to Evolution Valley. Not life-or-death scary though. More like “oh I hope I don’t fall and get everything wet and look like a total doofus” scary. 🙂

    There are some crossing where it’s a close call, but often there are logs and/or rocks you can hop across.

    February 26, 2016 at 9:55 am #79357
    wendy voorhees
    Participant

    I have a start date of June 25th. Should I be concerned about losing the trail?

    February 29, 2016 at 5:49 pm #79409
    Eric Filar
    Participant

    Im going in at Bear Creek July 1st and am a little curious at what I’m going to find also…
    Any idea how it looks on a high snow pack year, going in this early?
    Thanks in advance.

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