Spring is in the Air!
April 7th, 2011As we move into Spring, I begin to think of getting out more to the back country to do some trekking!
Below is a great post from Ned Tibbits of Mountain Education about some of the challenges that we will be faced with in Spring in the high places. Mountain Education’s contact information is at the bottom of this post if you are interested in contacting them about their educational opportunities. They have trained many how to be safe and have fun in the outdoors!
Have fun out there and see you on the trail, Peter
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From the point of view of one who teaches Wilderness Skills, how to have a successful thru hike, and who is outside in the Sierra every day between 6,000 and 10,000 feet (ski patrol–Heavenly and skills instructor–Desolation Wilderness), here are our thoughts:
There’s no need to be afraid of snow. Just learn how to be safe in it, start earlier so you can slow down and enjoy it, cross the creeks and take lots of pictures! So, if you’re desire is to hike “thru,” from Border to Border, it can certainly be done quite easily and safely. Fear of the unknown and an abundant desire for dry, idealistic trail, we believe, is what motivates hikers to endure the logistical mess of flip-flopping in order to try to find the best trail conditions that will allow the speed they need to attain to make it to Canada before the powder snow starts flying.
If you don’t mind flopping from here to there in that quest, Timothy Nye is absolutely right. It’s all about elevation. Skip the high ones where the snow is and advance to where the trail returns to the low ones. Blow-downs are always a pain in the rear until the trail crew shows up and that might not be until mid-August like when I thru hiked the PCT.
However, we know that our opinions regarding how to thru hike a long trail are not in vogue right now, but they are based on maximizing your personal safety during and rewards from the hike.
Let’s talk strategy and timing. Your only real deadline on the trail is when the snow starts flying up north. Walking through powder snow is forget-it-difficult and snow shoes simply don’t make it much easier. Walking on consolidated, Spring snow when firm in the mornings is easy (the caveat is that you need to know what you’re doing, safety-wise). The Sierra snow pack starts becoming consolidated when the days grow longer, say around March or better yet, April. What this means is the avalanche danger subsides and the snow surface becomes firmer to walk normally on. So, if the Rangers in Manning tell you that the snow may start flying as early as mid-September and are backed-up by the Dinsmore’s observations and recommendations, plan your trip start date from Mexico with that in mind. After you’ve hiked and dreamed for four or six months to see and enter beautiful Canada, who wants to risk being stopped by snow only days or weeks from the crossing? Just leave the Mexican border earlier.
Otherwise, you leave per someone’s “optimal” time frame and have to hike too fast at first, risking injury, disappointment, and disillusion, to make the required pace. Doesn’t anyone ask why about 70% of hikers drop off the trail? How many of them leave their “dream-of-a-lifetime” hike because going the speed that’s required has unforeseen consequences (physical as well as
emotional) because they didn’t test themselves in it and with it during their planning stage?
So, here it is from Mountain Education:
- start between mid-March and mid-April,
- give yourself plenty of time to go slow and enjoy (doesn’t mean that some people can’t go fast and find enjoyment, just know why you’re out there and know what that speed will do for you),
- hike straight through and slow down the schedule when the going gets tough, like in the Sierra,
- find out in advance, during your planning and training stage, what the realities of the trail experience will really be and practice in them, train for them, and equip yourself for them, so that when they actually happen you will be safe, not sorry or painfully in jeopardy, and able to comfortably continue on, whether they be nasty creek crossings, miserable weather, lots of blow-downs, dangerous terrain, insufficient food, or just that you don’t have the right gear when you need it.
- minimize time spent off-trail. If your goal is to absorb all the mountain experience has to offer and see everything between Mexico and Canada, don’t loose sight of it by blowing your schedule in town. Here’s a novel idea–work out your menu such that you actually like it from the start, meaning that you won’t have to go to towns frequently to make changes and can receive resupply boxes at road crossings and stay on the trail and able to go slower. What this will mean, also, is that you will have to test your menu on long test hikes, like on the 3-week John Muir Trail. [Yes, we're aware that any diet can become disgusting over time, but consider your pre-trip planning/preparation to be critical and take those hikes to test your "systems" of food, gear, and clothing under the conditions realistically expected!] (If a big part of your reason for hiking along a high, mountainous trail are the social benefits of going off-trail into towns, then at least plan more time for these.) (This includes flip-flopping–how much time and money are consumed doing this? Wouldn’t it just be easier in the long run to learn the skills to deal with the obstacles anticipated and just continue moving forward?)
There’s no need for modifying your hike if you knew what you were getting into in the first place. If you find out in advance and train your “systems”
for it, you’ll be better off. However, it will take more commitment and effort, foresight and determination, focus and time, and a willingness to consider thru-hiking strategies that have fallen out of vogue at the moment.
“Just remember, Be Careful out there!”
Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
1106A Ski Run Blvd
South Lake Tahoe, Ca. 96150
P: 888-996-8333
F: 530-541-1456
C: 530-721-1551
http://www.mountaineducation.org
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