Request: snow conditions at Italy lake & Pass

[giulia]

Hi!
has anybody been in the Lake Italy & pass after mid July who can report about conditions? I see a post from June of this year, but I trust that by now the situation should be different. I have also tried the CalTopo maps for snow cover with little results because of cloud cover. Also I wonder if it will give a good idea of the area just by the shore of Lake Italy which is sometimes tricky to pass, at least for me, when the snow bank covers the trail and hangs over the water.
My route is Pine Creek TH, Pine Creek Pass, JMT, Lake Italy Trail-> Granite Park -> Pine Creek TH
I'm primarily concerned about the Lake Italy area, but any additional info from recent trips is appreciated.

Many thanks,
Giulia

[Silky Smooth]

some locals just came back from 8 days up in that area, your touching a lot of the same places they went, no snow obstacles from what i heard.

[giulia]

thank you for the info!

[Steven H]

Here's a satellite picture of Italy Pass from July 30. As you can see, it's snow-free.

Arrow marks approximate location of the pass.
Live page:
https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/sentinel- ... tes=false

[windknot]

Using the same great site that Steven linked, the July 30 satellite image shows that the south shore of Lake Italy (which is indeed the part of your route that holds snow the longest) is snow-free. I had some difficulty traversing that slope in late July of 2016 when it was covered in icy snow, but that won't be an issue this season.