Hey longri, I'll try to keep this fine post centered on the JMT, but I do want to state a personal disclaimer to any sort of exceptional skiing ability other than endurance, and that too has fallen off to a point where I should instead only claim
perseverance. (Yes Hobbes, sadly I am not a "stud", just ask Lizzie.) And Copeg, it's folks like you and John Dittli that I most shudder to receive any credit from on the skiing front. My level of skiing comes into it's sorry own in that very slush and mud that you guys would pack the boards for. Paul's words apply best to me and my family when he said something like:
I use the skis to get into the mountains, not the other way around.
Okay, back to the JMT- on skis this time, eh longri? If it is a goal for some, I think it is a great one. I met a hard core older guy in TMeadows one winter who had done it, and said it was "too easy!" He hails from the North Cascades, and has much coastal Alaskan mountaineering experience, and maintains that this ease is due to our Sierras having such comparatively benign weather. He skied the JMT solo, in one shot that took him 14 days or so. He didn't see another soul after the first day. Obviously he timed the weather just right, and was a true stud. If I do it at all, I'll be doing it in portions- I'd like to try in from South Lake- out Taboose next, or perhaps, in Kearsarge, north over Glenn and Pinchot, and then
down Taboose Creek, or all the way to Bishop Creek. But then, I will also be considering different kind of winter trip: to ski in to one favorite location after another, set up one or two nice camps, and then day-ski out from camp light and easy.
It's an interesting comparison, since one can cover the same amount of ground either way, but the JMT route covers a long, linear path through about half of the range, and the other involves circular, or out and back traveling, to learn the Sierra more intimately, piece by piece. I love to do both! Best of luck fellow travelers.
Properly trained, a man can be dog’s best friend.