High Sierra Topix

If one is serious, you take classes (eg, NOLS, Avalanche/Snow courses, First aid, go with someone with experience, etc) And, study and plan, and ask others for input and in some cases, heed it. EVERYONE gets a map. and knows how to read it.

NOLS: https://info.nols.edu/info-request?gcli ... oChdfw_wcB

Basic First Aid: http://www.redcross.org/lp/cpr-aed-firs ... fgodjXIDTA

I am not disagreeing individuals should be prepared as best they can from map skills to more. Its just that sometimes things get quite a bit sanctimonious around these parts when hearing the missteps of others. It is most certainly one way many people often learn. It is simply not always feasible to always "know" what you need to know

Hi Sambieni,

I don't believe anyone is trying to be sanctimonious here, many posts are left open to interpretation, and may come across as such.

The key thing to take away from here, is that, winter/spring travel is a completely different animal, it requires different skills compared to summer/early fall travel. One may be great at summer travel, but be totally out of there element in the spring/winter seasons.

As Russ indicated, getting educated, taking classes, and then going out with someone experienced is the way to go.

You can wing it during the summer/ early fall, but if you try it in the spring/winter, the results could be deadly.

Having skied across the Sierras from Shepherd to Lodgepole in a LOW snow yr in May 2008, I cannot imagine navigating Sierra passes without sufficient gear, experienced group members and planning. Milestone Pass at 13.1k' was not trivial, and has similar exposure to Glen and Mather.