Hell For Sure Pass This July, Bad Idea?

[powderhound]

I was planning to do a through hike in late July through early August that starts at Courtwright Reservoir, goes over Hell for Sure Pass, meets up with the JMT, and ends either at Crescent Meadows, Road's End, or Whitney Portal (not sure on the terminus yet), but with pictures I'm seeing of the snowpack I'm starting to lose confidence in my plan. I will be going solo, have never been there before, and while I've done a good bit of off-trail and ski-mountaineering, I'd like to keep my feet on granite as much as possible and leave the crampons and ice axe at home. If I have to I'll bring microspikes, but I'm hoping to get by with just my boots.

Do you think Hell for Sure Pass will be covered in snow in late July, maybe around the 25th? Should I aim for a more traveled or lower route? I was toying with going off trail for a significant portion in the higher parts, but am wondering if I should just save that stuff or next summer or try to move my schedule around so I can do early to mid August, but could only push things back a week or two at most.

[sparky]

I would expect significant snow coverage and be prepared for turning around. I would take microspikes at a minimum for sure. I am expecting high passes will be holding significant snow into aug. I am also planning a tirp for last week of july, so my trip will be an in-n-out and I will be taking microspikes as well.

[Mike M.]

This is pure speculation, but I don't think you will have a problem in late July/early August. Hell-for-Sure Pass is relatively low in altitude (11,284 feet) and the area around the pass gets abundant sun exposure. I'm sure if you left today, you'd run into lots of sun-cupped snow fields near the pass but most of that will be melted out by late July. If I were you, I would be more concerned about mosquitoes during your proposed timeframe. Skeeters follow the receding snowline and can be gnarly for a few weeks after the big melt.

Have a great trip!

Mike

[Dave_Ayers]

I posted a couple pics near Hell for Sure pass taken the start of August in the 2011 thread http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... 12#p118500 . Wasn't a lot of snow below 11,000 in that area that year. I suppose this year will be similar. You may want spikes, but the JMT should be pretty well trodden by then.

[cgundersen]

Hi Powderhound,
I'll attach a photo looking down Darwin Canyon toward Le Conte Divide as of last week. We were at elevations appreciably higher than you'll be tackling over Hell-for-Sure, so I'm confident you'll be OK. We only go places that we can reach with boots alone, and there's another month for snow to melt, so that's the reason for my confidence. I'm guessing that any residual patches of snow will be welcome relief from the heat!
Cheers,
Cameron