High Sierra Topix

It seems like the snow keeps fallin'....doesn't the sky know it's spring! I've been planning on doing JMT in july... taking the month to cruise through at a relaxing pace. I can't do it any later in the season, I'm getting a little nervous about crossings and snow...any suggestions or comments about doing this trail in july after a long late winter?

We tried a section of the SHR last July and bailed after 6 days. We planned on 10 days, and were so far behind by the 4th day we decided to try it in Sept. We lost a lot of time crossing suncupped snowfields, and finding the best way to cross fast moving water. We're planning another trip in July, but not sure if it will be doable, so we'll play it by ear.

Maybe the JMT will be better since PCTers will probably already be thru. The SHR was xctry so we were the first ones. Good luck!

If your JMT trip starts in early July and you are going south to north, be ready for snowy conditions and don't plan on covering a lot of ground each day. If your JMT trip starts mid or late July and you are traveling north to south, you should be ok.

My reasoning is the higher elevations of the southern portion of the Sierras will retain snow a bit longer than the lower elevations in the north. Also, there's about as much snow in the Sierras now as last year which is 150% of normal averaged across all measuring stations (measured by the State Water Resources Board). And last year, the JMT was fairly clear to travel by late-July.

What we need now are warm days to start the "big melt". Think sun.

I plan on starting earily july and am not sure which direction I'll be headed. Would you suggest one direction over the other for this starting date? I'm not so much concerned about lingering snow...unless it's ''you-need-an-ice-axe-to-make-this-pass'' kinda snow....I'm mostly concerned about dangerously deep, fast water crossings. Is this a realistic SAFETY concern, I'm not worried about the cold and the wet....just being swept away in a dangerous spot.

By July, most of the runoff is behind you with water levels subsiding, so my first concern would not be high water levels (it would be my #2 concern). Plus the major rivers and streams on the JMT have bridges built to safely cross (e.g. Piute Creek).

My #1 concern would be slow going over snow and deep sun cups. Don't under estimate the difficulty of walking over large patches of snow and negotiating sun cups of up to 18 inches deep. It's crazy difficult. As a matter of fact, I was on top of Forrester Pass last year in early August taking care of some guy who fell while traversing a large patch of snow heading up to the pass. He fell into a sun cup, twisted his knee, took a huge gouge out of his upper lip, and gave himself a concussion. He was air lifted out the next day. Negotiating fields of snow introduces increased risk of injury and will substantially slow you down.

My suggestion is to stay tuned to reports from folks returning from the JMT and other Sierra destinations on this forum and others like it. You'll get a pretty good sense of what conditions will be like before you leave so you can make an informed decision.

Hi,

What is a "sun cup"?

Thanks.

Snow that has deep cups forming from warm temps, not fun to walk on ( http://community.webshots.com/photo/393 ... 7782DegILc )



The cascade was too fast and wide for me to cross, we had to drop way down to cross ( http://community.webshots.com/photo/393 ... 7782RYzzKb )

Thanks.

In a year like this year, I would be concerned about creek crossings in July. Not all major creeks are bridged. Evolution Creek at the end of Evolution Valley/Meadow can be a difficult wade, as are some of the major creeks, notably a creek or two entering the upper sections of the Bear River. If you didn't have a light ice-axe with you, I would at least recommend a good set of trekking poles, both for the passes and for the creek crossings. If you use your head and are not rushed and are willing to go upstream for better fords, then you should be able to find safe ways. Trouble is, often you are tired and hungry and just want to reach camp (or don't want to take the time to detour and look for a safer crossings) after many miles on the trail and we often take risks that we might not if we weren't so steeeenking tired or in a hurry.

One other note, you're probably going to have to hike North to South, unless you want to start at a trailhead other than Whitney Portal. Overnight permits leaving from Whitney Portal and heading to Mt Whitney/JMT are raffled off in March and there are only 2 permits left, one on the 6th other on the 19th.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation ... vail.shtml
I think the passes of most concern are Mather and Forester, which should be ok by mid July, Muir is always very slow and snowy, but not dangerous. Good luck.
Eric