Snow Travel for the Inexperienced

Questions and reports related to Sierra Nevada current and forecast conditions, as well as general precautions and safety information. Trail conditions, fire/smoke reports, mosquito reports, weather and snow conditions, stream crossing information, and more.
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JimJ
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Re: Snow Travel for the Inexperienced

Post by JimJ »

hikerchick395 wrote:I saw nice glissading tracks yesterday near Kearsarge Pass...straight down, crossing switchbacks, ending with a pile of snow against a small pine... :)
Was the small pile of snow in the form of, well, let's say a very broken snowman, mouth frozen agape as in a "now silent scream?"

Oh! Ouch! :eek:
quentinc
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Re: Snow Travel for the Inexperienced

Post by quentinc »

I hope it was one of those two guys who glissaded through the boot tracks on the north side of Glen Pass. :)
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funcrew
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Re: Snow Travel for the Inexperienced

Post by funcrew »

I'm a civilian re: this topic, no interest in snow hiking at all. Even so, a couple years ago, in August, I was going over a small 20-foot wide innocent-looking snow patch on an otherwise dry trail and postholed against a rock, taking most of the skin off the front of my leg and wrenching my back. My paranoia level concerning "minor" snow patches is now much more acute.
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ndwoods
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Re: Snow Travel for the Inexperienced

Post by ndwoods »

And now maybe we will actually have some snow! We've got weather in Calif! YEA!
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tomba
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Re: Snow Travel for the Inexperienced

Post by tomba »

funcrew wrote:I was going over a small 20-foot wide innocent-looking snow patch on an otherwise dry trail and postholed against a rock, taking most of the skin off the front of my leg and wrenching my back.
When we crossed Glen Pass last year several days after an early October snow storm, I took off the baskets from my trekking poles to be able to poke through the snow all the way to the the rocks underneath. It was quite useful.

Edit: Since this thread is about safety: I don't recommend going in soon after a significant snowfall covers the terrain. We were ready to retreat if things turned too hard, and we approached the class 1 pass from the worse, northern side. Also there didn't seem to be an avalanche risk.
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