Cross Forester - redux

[Hobbes]

Pretty interesting trip report from last year. I heard them, but never saw them, later that evening - I think they were happy to be alive:

http://thetravelingmandolin.blogspot.co ... -pass.html

As we were headed toward the pass, we met a John Muir Trail hiker, headed southbound as most of them do. It was always incredibly easy to spot the JMTers: they had massive backpacks, heavy leather boots, brightly-colored shirts, and all the snow gear imaginable. We stopped to chat with this one, and mentioned that we were going to hit Forester Pass at about 4:00, if all went well.

“That’s a really good idea,” he said. “In the morning the snow is just pure ice! Really treacherous. Never go over a pass in the morning. You’ll have better traction in late afternoon, especially since you guys don’t have any snow gear.”

“How much snow is there?” we asked.

“The south side isn’t bad, but the north side is pretty buried. There are a lot of exposed boulder fields, though. You should definitely go down those instead of trying to walk on the snow. It’s hard to figure out where all the footprints lead anyway.”

Feeling more confident by his assessment and empowered by his advice, we thanked him and continued on.

That was our first mistake.

(See my comment at the bottom of her post.)