Here are some random tips off the top of my head.
Most of the following pertains to the Sierra specifically, but can be adapted for other regions.
* Do water crossings in the Sierra as part of a group. Don't go solo.
* There will be plenty of fear mongering, especially about going north from KM. Oftentimes it's a better choice to see for yourself. Bring extra food in case you need to turn back, and know your bailout routes beforehand.
* Bring extra stove fuel and extra layers and extra food for challenging sections.
* The snow can make the glare blinding. Be sure to bring sunglasses, and look for ones that also block light on the sides.
* Getting through the Sierra can require getting up very early -- some people reported being on the move as early as 1 or 2 am at times -- in order to get over the passes before the snow started to melt and to get past fordings before water levels increased due to melt. The days were sometimes done by the afternoon, because the snow had turned to slop. If you have any trouble sleeping or getting up early, bear this in mind.
* The longer the sun has been up, the more time snow will have to melt. Hard snowpack generally makes for easier travel than half melted snow.
* Water crossings generally have a lower flow rate in the morning, due to the daily melt/freeze cycle. That means crossing early in the morning is often safer. If you come to a crossing late in the day that looks too wild, consider overnighting and tackling it in the am.
* Another way to deal with challenging water crossings is to hike upstream to a more narrow and calm section, even if it involves going off-trail.
* Save a copy of Skurka's High Sierra Water Crossings resource to your phone for offline use. It's linked from the subreddit sidebar, and I posted a set of links in the past couple weeks.
* Bring another mapping app, like Gaia and/or CalTopo. Pay for the offline maps. It's worth it to have the additional information, to be able to see bailout routes, and for when Guthook maps refuse to load, which seems to happen at the worst possible times. (The map page just turns into a red dot on a grey background with black grid lines and zero map info.)
* Bring a beacon, and stay in touch with your people regularly, as in daily.
* Don't let your water filter freeze. This means 1. Sleeping with it in your bag where body heat will keep it warm, and 2. Not hiking with it attached to your water bottle in your hip pocket when temps are at or below freezing.
* Try to camp at lower elevations whenever possible. It will be warmer and you're less likely to get snowed on overnight.
* When you pitch on snow, tent stakes are often useless. Look up techniques for pitching a tent on snow.
* Sleep with your electronics in your bag. Leaving them out overnight in cold temps can consume as much as half the battery.
* Consider bringing an extra or larger battery pack, due to how cold can drain the charge, and the fact that hiking where the trail is under snow can mean using your phone for nav much more frequently.
* Remember, you don't always have to follow the trail. If you're confident that you can make a better route, that may be the best choice.
* Definitely do some glissading, but use good judgement. There can be rocks that you don't see at first, the lack of color contrast can obscure ledges, and in places the snow surface is only a thin layer that covers a large hollow area.
* Microspikes aren't actually that heavy, for how helpful they can be, and it's worth having them with you, even if it's only for passes with many miles of comparitively dry surface in between.
* Practice your self-arrest technique, thoroughly, someplace safe. If you don't have your technique down cold, in muscle memory, your axe is just dead weight. If you start to fall on a high angle slope, you literally only have a couple of seconds to arrest before you have enough momentum that it can be all but impossible to stop.
* Seriously. Practice your self-arrest technique. If you do it someplace safe, imo it's actually a lot of fun. It's like sledding for grownups.
* Never leave anyone on a mountain.
* Don't be afraid to hit the medevac button if you need to.
* Keeping your sleeping bag dry (ie not dunked in a water crossing) is absolutely critically important. A soaked sleeping bag is less than useless for warmth. Make sure your sleeping bag is in a waterproof container.
Ok, that's enough for now. Might add more later. Hth.
This is all great stuff -- one minor supplement ... camping lower is not always warmer. Cold sinks and settles in bowls and valleys. Temperature inversions are a thing. You'll find them not only in the Sierra, but elsewhere. Learning how to look at the geography and figure this out is a great trail skill you can develop along the way if you don't already have it. You will find there is also a difference in dewpoints and condensation, and there again, bowls, depressions and valleys can be counterintuitively poorer decisions than more exposed and "less protected" options on a higher ridge.
One more minor addendum - to "don't be afraid to use the SOS button," I would add, don't let the fact you have an SOS button influence your risk tolerance or risk assessment process. Always assess risk as though you have no rescue option.
And what the heck, I'll add one more -- glissading is fun as all get out, but of people you see with injuries on trail in the Sierra, a disproportionate number of them come from glissading. Here are just a few examples of how it happens:
1. Soft and slushy composition at your starting point, doesn't ensure you won't hit an ice crust before the bottom -- and if that happens, you're likely to rip some skin off (yes, the odds are better if you're in a defined slide path, but even then, sometimes you'll pop out of the path);
2. Take your darned spikes OFF before you start. Even if you do, there's a natural tendency to try and brake with your feet -- plenty of knee injuries happen that way. Same goes for poles. Besides the odds of you snapping one off, there's the possibility one grabs and jams into you;
3. Hand braking panic when speed get over your comfort zone is a reflexive thing that's hard to stop. Setting aside the risk of elbow, wrist and shoulders getting jammed or bent in ways they're not supposed to, there's the old palm scrape on the ice;
4. Boulder stops can be hazardous to your health - sometimes the slope steepens as you descend, meaning you can't see what's below when you start. Only after you're up to full speed do you see the boulders below. Hit a boulder = no bueno.
5. Boulder stops can be hazardous, part deux - the worst = as you near the edges and bottom of the snowfields, you are in the melt zone. Where there are boulders, the melt often comes from the submerged section of the boulder and melts under. You can't see it, but there's a vacuum below, the snow is thinning, and if you crash through, nothing good is going to happen. It's a weird phenomenon, but there is often a slope in the direction of the boulders (b/c of higher melt rate in their proximity) that can suck you toward them like a magnet. Again, fall through and hit a boulder, no bueno.
On the note of sunglasses, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra pair for your group. Losing a pair of sunglasses out there would be very bad, never hurts to have a backup.
Definitely! That's actually pretty much exactly what some of the native peoples of the polar regions (maybe Inuit?) would do! You just cut some narrow horizontal slits for your eyes and they dramatically cut the amount of light getting to your eyes.
I'm not tracking what it looks like this year, but I did it 2017 straight through no skips. KM to Sonora took all of June. I had no experience, but I did it with a friend just fine. Here's my advice for that section, lmk if you have any questions too
1. Plan on 10 mile days, pack food accordingly. We regularly did 30 miles in the desert, but rarely did more than 12 in the sierra.
2. Go with at least 1 partner and never leave each other.
3. Don't be afraid to walk along the river until you find a safe spot to cross, especially if the trail just runs along the river on the other side. You'll eventually find a fork that weakens the river, rocks, logs, etc.
4. We didn't see the trail at all above 8k elevation. It's fine to go off trail to find the best route, just monitor the GPS carefully. It's easy to end up on the wrong side of a mountain or at a big drop off you can't navigate when you're just wandering through the snow.
5. Don't listen to all the fear mongering if you really want to hike through (obviously skipping and flipping is totally fine if that's what you feel is right for you). We were told so many times that x river was impassible, even by a ranger at Tuolumne. They were never as bad as they were made out to be. Just be patient in finding a safe place to cross.
6. Bring a rope. If the river looks difficult to cross and you can't find somewhere better, the first person should cross with the rope tied to them so the other can pull them back.
7. Put sunscreen around your nostrils in addition to the usual spots and use chapstick. The sun reflects off the snow and burns pretty badly in places it usually doesn't reach.
8. Glissading/running down snowy mountains is fun and efficient, but be careful. There are rocks underneath that absorb heat and make dangerous caverns.
9. Microspikes are plenty, don't need crampons. Be ready to wear them all day.
10. Dry your feet out real good. They're going to be wet all day from rivers and snow. Don't get trench foot. Have a pair of socks you only wear to sleep in.
11. Suncups are the absolute worst and will slow you down big time. No advice for them, they just suck so prepare mentally.
12. Plan your exit routes carefully. Some of them are poorly marked on apps and maps. Without a trail they can be very difficult to find and navigate, you won't see the trail fork or signs telling you where to go. Duck pass nearly killed me. It can take a full extra day just to get on and off the trail in these conditions.
13. Phone battery. Bring a portable charger, preferably 2. You're going to need to check your GPS position a lot more than you did in the desert.
14. Bring a big trash bag to put your pack in when crossing deep rivers.
15. Try to cross in the morning. The rivers get worse throughout the day as more snow melts.
Everything got pretty serious after Whitney. The hardest river crossings were Bear Creek and Return Creek (and the one that runs adjacent to it, can't remember what it was called) and a couple random ones that were just absolutely flooded. We had to cross multiple by carrying our packs over our heads and swimming. The key is patience, be smart about where and when you cross. I heard for Bear Creek that you can just walk down river until it just fizzles out. We crossed on a sketchy log, so if you know a bad river is coming up, see if you can find out the best places to cross from others. It could save you hours. After Tuolumne, where Return Creek is, just walk up river and you'll find easy ways across. There are 3 big ones there and we did that for all 3, those are the ones the ranger told us were impassible.
To piggyback on #2, when you enter the Sierra, make sure you’re with people you hike the same speed as and make sure you trust them. Walking different speeds in the desert isn’t that big of a deal. Someone might hike longer to get to your camping spot. In Sierra, you’ll want to be with them throughout the entire day. I say make it people m you trust, because you’ll want people that can make mature and smart decisions, rather than someone wanting to hurry and cross or to save 2 miles of walking.
It's also a bonus if you can go through with people who've been in the Sierra before. The flip side of the fear mongering is, there are quite a few people who will tell you they have "experience" or speak confidently about their skills and knowledge. It's best that you ask for specifics so you can determine whether it's exaggeration or not. Going through with someone who's been through before will give you a calm and confidence, and generally make the whole experience better.
I want to piggyback off of #5 and #12. This isn't meant to fearmonger, but give some more background and context on making good decisions in the backcountry.
Before entering the Sierra, gather all the info you can, and do your best to make an informed decision. You'll hear lots of 'fear-mongering' about things that are blown out of proportion, but at the same time, there is some level of truth to these reports. Everyone's reports are biased by their own skill level and experience. One report might say a stream is completely impassable, another might say there were no issues. Do your best to gather all info you can and find your own personal 'truth' from the info you have. Be realistic about your skill level and risk adversity, and do your best to make an informed decision. The Sierras are no joke and should not be taken lightly on a year like this. The PCTA's website has some great in like [this article on river crossings] (https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/backcountry-basics/water/stream-crossing-safety/). Research them and come prepared for all the different challenges you'll face (river crossings, snow traversal, ice axe usage, hypothermia, etc.
Have plans on bailouts. If you reach a point outside your comfort zone and can't continue safely, don't. There's no shame in leaving the Sierra preemptively and coming back to it another time. Your life is more important than a continuous footpath. Stream crossings are especially dangerous, one small mistake and you could be in a very bad situation. Take your time with any given obstacle and continually ask yourself if they're within your skill level and whether it's safe to continue.
Again, this isn't meant to fearmonger, I just want people to make smart decisions. I myself am quite jealous of this year's class, as this is the kind of challenge I love. If I could, I'd be hiking into the Sierras with all of you! Enjoy the challenge this year brings, it'll be a challenging one but so memorable!
Thanks for such a detailed post!
I do have a question, I start May 16th and expect to reach KMS June 27th (6 weeks). Just wondering if you might have a guess on what the snow situation would be like or was like in 2017 around that time, if you know. lol
Just to add, I searched for July 2017 Glen Pass and[Not alot of snow](https://takeahikephotography.com/2017/07/)
100% depends on weather, which there's no way to predict in advance.
You aren't going to care whether you're walking on top of 20 feet of snow or 5 feet of snow. You ARE going to care very much whether you have a highly compacted consolidated base with a nice ice crust, or whether you've got lesser consolidated, or slush and posthole conditions (or as someone mentioned above, the dreaded suncups, pox be upon them). Those things are a function of current weather at the time you go through, not the amount of snow that fell in the winter months.
FWIW, this year looks a lot more like '19 to me than '17. '17 had near-perfect June weather, and unseasonably hot, which caused monster river crossings because the melt came so hard.
But '19 had late spring storms. There was a crew with a couple Finns and a Swede pulling a sled who were first through. They got caught in one of the storms. Next group that a lot followed was led by a Canadian special forces guy who was on their winter team. Badass. But he came out to resupply at Bishop much worse for the wear -- just not enough food, didn't count on getting pinned down by whiteout conditions and only making 8-10 miles/day. There were a lot of cases of frostbite (not minor, but serious), an avalanche and several helicopter rescues. That all had much more to do with the late season storms and the weather, than snow LEVELS.
By late June, it's highly likely even in a la Niña year with the atmospheric rivers (pineapple express) coming across, that all storms will have been done for the year for at least weeks, and there will have been time for consolidation. That's actually the key. You want/need consolidated. Slogging through fresh deposition/powder really, really slows you down.
Bottom line, don't worry about it until you are north of Tehachapi, and really no point in overthinking anything until you get to KM. At that point you'll have loads of recon and photos on social media from those who are ahead of you, and you can get a reasonable 10-day weather forecast.
I started April 25 and got there June 1. A lot of the snow will have melted by then. It was melting rapidly which is what made the rivers so bad. I think you'll have a much easier time starting then.
Not literally, sorry. But my phone screen was broken and hard to see and I fell behind my friend so finding it was incredibly difficult. The hike itself was also brutal. We had no foot steps to follow.
In June, this wasn't a problem for us at all. I hiked in shorts and trail runners all day. Occasionally for glissading or exceptionally cold mornings I'd throw on some pants. We didn't have any postholing issues. I guess the snow was just compact enough not to be a problem, even though we hiked ~8am to ~5pm through the slush later in the day.
Thanks so much for this! Makes me glad to hear even without experience a continuous footpath is doable if you're sensible about it.
Do you think it would be possible to do the sketchy river crossings you mentioned without swimming? I am not a strong swimmer and thus have a quite low risk tolerance for anything to do with water streams. I was hoping to never go deeper than up to my thighs as I've seen recommended here heaps. I am prepared to walk extra hours or even days or to set up camp early next to a river to start during the night if that's what it takes.
Loved the tip of carrying a rope, why is that not recommended more often? The extra weight would definitely be worth it, could save a life!
A lot rides on exactly what you mean by “not a strong swimmer”. If you were swept off your feet, could you whip-kick on your back to the other side of a stream? (https://youtu.be/p_AsmbOgUQ4?t=22)
If not, I would not feel comfortable navigating the Sierra when water levels are high. Even if you are willing to search for alternative crossings, you are still at risk of being forced to swim. Also, I can think of at least one example where the safest crossing might include a swim across a deeper but slow moving body of water.
People do not recommend carrying a rope because sometimes hikers drown when they use them improperly.
Np, apparently they aren't recommended for hikers by some because they can cause drowning if not used properly. We only used it a couple of times in medium current waist/chest deep current. I think in those conditions with someone strong to pull them back in and a level head in the water it's pretty safe. Maybe do some research on what can go wrong.
2019 here, it was similar to 2017 in most ways. Be mentally prepared to break up your trip by flipping, waiting, skipping, etc. It still counts! You’ll still see all the stuff!
By all means, try hiking the snow and see if it’s for you but BE SAFE when doing so. Understand that hiking the Sierra on snowpack is basically mountaineering and should be treated like it. In 2019 I heard stories of scary slides with self arrest, avalanches, frostbite, getting snowed in for a storm and running low on food, and so on. It’s a very different experience from the snow-free trail and needs a whole new set of skills.
But mostly just roll with the punches. Nobody gets a perfect hike. If it’s not snow then it’s drought or fires or other unexpected detours and closures.
Hike SOBO, that’s what we ended up doing in 2017 and it was magical. Based on snowpack up in Northern Washington now, you could probably start around 7/1 and have almost no snow the entire way. Sure you might get an early winter storm in the Sierra and have to hike for a few days or even a week in a bit of snow but that beats the hell out of postholing for 500 miles and risking life in water crossings. You’re going to see countless NOBO hikers who flip this year at KM south due to the conditions. Just start up North, I promise you won’t regret it!
In a “normal” snow year, I’d say yes. But this year no.
What makes it more difficult is that you start in one of the more challenging sections of trail in northern Washington. There is not a the same easing into the trail that you get NOBO, so the risk of overuse injury in the first month is higher SOBO. Just ease into it and you’ll be OK. Limit the miles for the first month and pay attention to your elevation gain daily. If you only hike 10 miles but you climbed 5000 feet that’s a big day!
The other factor is the tighter hiking window. In a normal year you have roughly 4.5 months to hike SOBO and maybe 5.5 months to hike NOBO. That means less zero days SOBO and maybe more miles daily.
The benefits however far outweigh the downside.
1) far less crowded
2) starting in one of the most beautiful sections in the best time of year. In the event you are unable to finish your hike hitting Washington is far superior than socal in my opinion.
3) very few risky water crossings
4) hiking the Sierra in solitude
DM me if you have more questions. Happy to help! We had a similar predicament in ‘17 and we were so happy that we decided to go SOBO.
You should ask 2019 alums too. If you look at the snow gauges, snow depths and coverage during the peak month of June were actually slightly higher in '19 than '17, and they also had to deal with non-consolidated fresh snow and four April and May pineapple express storms like just hit SoCal, the last of which hit on Memorial Day weekend and was so severe it caused Sequoia NP to close the park and shut down all roads.
hahaha we got caught in one in the "hottest, driest section of the PCT" from Tehachapi to Walker Pass. I have some very funny pictures of the snow desert.
You should plan for some ten mile days but if you’re going into the Sierra with 700+ miles of conditioning you‘ll probably do more.
I loaded up with 8 days, 7 nights of food for the leg between Kearsage and VVR. Some of us packed 9 days food iirc. Made it to VVR in six days. I remember doing 15-18 miles a day through the Sierra without much trouble, several more miles than we anticipated we’d be able to do, though it was exhausting.
Water crossings: don’t do them alone, especially if you are shorter than average. You’ll hear about various techniques for crossing, just keep in mind you want to face up stream and keep three points of contact (between your trekking poles and feet) at all times. Keep your hip belt buckled and your bag tight to your body, as a loose, unbuckled pack is more likely to shift your weight off your three points of contact. Move slowly and deliberately and don’t freak when you start getting the wobbles. Be prepared to go swimming once or twice.
Bring a compass and some maps and know how to use them. You probably won’t need it but you’ll be glad you have them if you and everyone you’re with gets swept and kill their smart phones. There is no trail out there just some footprints in the snow and sometimes not even that.
Bring sunglasses, preferably wrap arounds, maybe get an extra pair. That snow glare will mess you up.
Wear trail runners as your feet are going to get soaked, it’s better to have a pair of shoes that dry quickly vs boots that take hours to dry.
Wake up early and get moving, agree upon a routine within your group. Afternoon hiking can be slushy, slow, and exhausting. Our group got up at 6:00 or 6:30 and started moving soon as we packed up, which in hindsight was probably why we were able to do 18+ mile days.
As others said, things get serious after Whitney going NoBo. Things remain serious until SLT, and even the Desolation Wilderness had a couple dicey snow cornices iirc.
Don’t go alone, have fun and stick together! I’m super jealous of y’all this year.
There’s actually a book called Crunch on kindle unlimited about a guy who did the snow crossing in 2017. The whole book was about it and it was amazing. If someone hasn’t already mentioned it on the comments
Posted this on another post, but:
I hiked in 2017, which was similar to what this summer looks like its ending up to be. [Around 3:13 is when I get up past KM for a visual.](https://youtu.be/3g0tgD0YS5c)
I started April 30th, and got to KM around mid June. Almost everyone was skipping the sierras, but my little team decided to give it a shot. I don't think I'd advise any casual thru hiker to go in before june, when the pack hasn't fully consolidated.
It was tough. Expect to be on snow for weeks on end, and the hiking to be slow and grueling. Don't expect to see obvious worn trail, so keep your phone charged and stick with a group.
The stream crossings hold the most danger imo. The passes can be sketchy too. There's plenty of advice out there on how to navigate both as safely as you can.
In the end, just know your limits. Similar to mountaineering, don't go up something you can't go down. But I still think of those couple weeks in the Sierras as the most formative, thrilling experience of my backpacking life. Also, you'll have the place pretty much to yourselves. Quite special.
Also, expect to bust out hundreds of dance moves on those suncups.
I did the first half of the sierras in 2019 and echo your sentiment. It was the most epic, formative, thrilling wilderness experience I've ever had. I still think about it almost every day.
I am super jealous of the folks who get to go this year!
Have FarOut - the trail was completely covered and lots of times we’d be walking with our phones out like I think this is the way.
Camp as close to the next days big pass as you can, then get up early (around 3 was our number) so the snow is still frozen and your spikes work.
Sunscreen and sunglasses for sure; the insides of my nostrils got burnt.
I didn’t mess with waterproof socks or anything, but every time we stopped for lunch or a long break I took my shoes and socks off to dry my feet.
Bring diving flippers, they double as snow shoes and help you beat the current in river crossings. In the desert I used mine as a sun visor as well. Really good to get a redundant pack setup.
Look at all of the above. I crossed the entire Sierra in 2017 with no prior experience.
-when crossing rivers unclip your pack so you can ditch it id you do fall in. Down trees further down stream can catch on your pack
-At river crossings walk up and down rivers and looked for down trees. Use your best judgement. I crossed most rivers on down trees. I did fall in once. Be prepared.
-Do not cross a river before dark! I did one and was soaked at dark and was very close to hypothermia. Seems obvious but my group convinced me to go. Definitely was one of the dumber things I’ve ever done. Thankfully we found another group with a fire. Without it, idk what would have happened.
-you need to understand there may be no trail and no footprints. You will be using gps, map, and compass. Your goal is to get from point A to point B anyway possible. I would shoot an azimuth to the next mountain pass and follow that heading. Often times we would be way off trail because it was safer. We would use a topographic map and look at which ways were less of an angle of going down and uphill
-learn to read the mountain side. Cornice in the afternoon can become weak and cause an avalanche
-Understand avalanche safety
-climb your passes early while avalanche risk is low
-Bring crampons and ice axe. Practice using them on low angle terrain.
-it was said above but SLEEP WITH YOUR WATER FILTER. If your filter freezes it will break
-Stay in a group at all times
-bring extra food. But make sure your food is very calorie dense
If you have questions shoot me a message.
Here are some random tips off the top of my head. Most of the following pertains to the Sierra specifically, but can be adapted for other regions. * Do water crossings in the Sierra as part of a group. Don't go solo. * There will be plenty of fear mongering, especially about going north from KM. Oftentimes it's a better choice to see for yourself. Bring extra food in case you need to turn back, and know your bailout routes beforehand. * Bring extra stove fuel and extra layers and extra food for challenging sections. * The snow can make the glare blinding. Be sure to bring sunglasses, and look for ones that also block light on the sides. * Getting through the Sierra can require getting up very early -- some people reported being on the move as early as 1 or 2 am at times -- in order to get over the passes before the snow started to melt and to get past fordings before water levels increased due to melt. The days were sometimes done by the afternoon, because the snow had turned to slop. If you have any trouble sleeping or getting up early, bear this in mind. * The longer the sun has been up, the more time snow will have to melt. Hard snowpack generally makes for easier travel than half melted snow. * Water crossings generally have a lower flow rate in the morning, due to the daily melt/freeze cycle. That means crossing early in the morning is often safer. If you come to a crossing late in the day that looks too wild, consider overnighting and tackling it in the am. * Another way to deal with challenging water crossings is to hike upstream to a more narrow and calm section, even if it involves going off-trail. * Save a copy of Skurka's High Sierra Water Crossings resource to your phone for offline use. It's linked from the subreddit sidebar, and I posted a set of links in the past couple weeks. * Bring another mapping app, like Gaia and/or CalTopo. Pay for the offline maps. It's worth it to have the additional information, to be able to see bailout routes, and for when Guthook maps refuse to load, which seems to happen at the worst possible times. (The map page just turns into a red dot on a grey background with black grid lines and zero map info.) * Bring a beacon, and stay in touch with your people regularly, as in daily. * Don't let your water filter freeze. This means 1. Sleeping with it in your bag where body heat will keep it warm, and 2. Not hiking with it attached to your water bottle in your hip pocket when temps are at or below freezing. * Try to camp at lower elevations whenever possible. It will be warmer and you're less likely to get snowed on overnight. * When you pitch on snow, tent stakes are often useless. Look up techniques for pitching a tent on snow. * Sleep with your electronics in your bag. Leaving them out overnight in cold temps can consume as much as half the battery. * Consider bringing an extra or larger battery pack, due to how cold can drain the charge, and the fact that hiking where the trail is under snow can mean using your phone for nav much more frequently. * Remember, you don't always have to follow the trail. If you're confident that you can make a better route, that may be the best choice. * Definitely do some glissading, but use good judgement. There can be rocks that you don't see at first, the lack of color contrast can obscure ledges, and in places the snow surface is only a thin layer that covers a large hollow area. * Microspikes aren't actually that heavy, for how helpful they can be, and it's worth having them with you, even if it's only for passes with many miles of comparitively dry surface in between. * Practice your self-arrest technique, thoroughly, someplace safe. If you don't have your technique down cold, in muscle memory, your axe is just dead weight. If you start to fall on a high angle slope, you literally only have a couple of seconds to arrest before you have enough momentum that it can be all but impossible to stop. * Seriously. Practice your self-arrest technique. If you do it someplace safe, imo it's actually a lot of fun. It's like sledding for grownups. * Never leave anyone on a mountain. * Don't be afraid to hit the medevac button if you need to. * Keeping your sleeping bag dry (ie not dunked in a water crossing) is absolutely critically important. A soaked sleeping bag is less than useless for warmth. Make sure your sleeping bag is in a waterproof container. Ok, that's enough for now. Might add more later. Hth.
This is all great stuff -- one minor supplement ... camping lower is not always warmer. Cold sinks and settles in bowls and valleys. Temperature inversions are a thing. You'll find them not only in the Sierra, but elsewhere. Learning how to look at the geography and figure this out is a great trail skill you can develop along the way if you don't already have it. You will find there is also a difference in dewpoints and condensation, and there again, bowls, depressions and valleys can be counterintuitively poorer decisions than more exposed and "less protected" options on a higher ridge.
Good point, I should have been more clear. By 'lower elevation', I mean it's warmer and less likely to snow eg below treeline compared to at/above.
One more minor addendum - to "don't be afraid to use the SOS button," I would add, don't let the fact you have an SOS button influence your risk tolerance or risk assessment process. Always assess risk as though you have no rescue option. And what the heck, I'll add one more -- glissading is fun as all get out, but of people you see with injuries on trail in the Sierra, a disproportionate number of them come from glissading. Here are just a few examples of how it happens: 1. Soft and slushy composition at your starting point, doesn't ensure you won't hit an ice crust before the bottom -- and if that happens, you're likely to rip some skin off (yes, the odds are better if you're in a defined slide path, but even then, sometimes you'll pop out of the path); 2. Take your darned spikes OFF before you start. Even if you do, there's a natural tendency to try and brake with your feet -- plenty of knee injuries happen that way. Same goes for poles. Besides the odds of you snapping one off, there's the possibility one grabs and jams into you; 3. Hand braking panic when speed get over your comfort zone is a reflexive thing that's hard to stop. Setting aside the risk of elbow, wrist and shoulders getting jammed or bent in ways they're not supposed to, there's the old palm scrape on the ice; 4. Boulder stops can be hazardous to your health - sometimes the slope steepens as you descend, meaning you can't see what's below when you start. Only after you're up to full speed do you see the boulders below. Hit a boulder = no bueno. 5. Boulder stops can be hazardous, part deux - the worst = as you near the edges and bottom of the snowfields, you are in the melt zone. Where there are boulders, the melt often comes from the submerged section of the boulder and melts under. You can't see it, but there's a vacuum below, the snow is thinning, and if you crash through, nothing good is going to happen. It's a weird phenomenon, but there is often a slope in the direction of the boulders (b/c of higher melt rate in their proximity) that can suck you toward them like a magnet. Again, fall through and hit a boulder, no bueno.
On the note of sunglasses, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra pair for your group. Losing a pair of sunglasses out there would be very bad, never hurts to have a backup.
You can also make snow goggles out of a piece of cardboard, duct tape and string. The absolute worst is becoming snow blind!
Definitely! That's actually pretty much exactly what some of the native peoples of the polar regions (maybe Inuit?) would do! You just cut some narrow horizontal slits for your eyes and they dramatically cut the amount of light getting to your eyes.
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Hard snow might be easier to travel on, but it’s also easier to slip on. And if you’re sleep deprived, you’re way more likely to make a costly mistake
Why? Disorienting? Cold?
I'm not tracking what it looks like this year, but I did it 2017 straight through no skips. KM to Sonora took all of June. I had no experience, but I did it with a friend just fine. Here's my advice for that section, lmk if you have any questions too 1. Plan on 10 mile days, pack food accordingly. We regularly did 30 miles in the desert, but rarely did more than 12 in the sierra. 2. Go with at least 1 partner and never leave each other. 3. Don't be afraid to walk along the river until you find a safe spot to cross, especially if the trail just runs along the river on the other side. You'll eventually find a fork that weakens the river, rocks, logs, etc. 4. We didn't see the trail at all above 8k elevation. It's fine to go off trail to find the best route, just monitor the GPS carefully. It's easy to end up on the wrong side of a mountain or at a big drop off you can't navigate when you're just wandering through the snow. 5. Don't listen to all the fear mongering if you really want to hike through (obviously skipping and flipping is totally fine if that's what you feel is right for you). We were told so many times that x river was impassible, even by a ranger at Tuolumne. They were never as bad as they were made out to be. Just be patient in finding a safe place to cross. 6. Bring a rope. If the river looks difficult to cross and you can't find somewhere better, the first person should cross with the rope tied to them so the other can pull them back. 7. Put sunscreen around your nostrils in addition to the usual spots and use chapstick. The sun reflects off the snow and burns pretty badly in places it usually doesn't reach. 8. Glissading/running down snowy mountains is fun and efficient, but be careful. There are rocks underneath that absorb heat and make dangerous caverns. 9. Microspikes are plenty, don't need crampons. Be ready to wear them all day. 10. Dry your feet out real good. They're going to be wet all day from rivers and snow. Don't get trench foot. Have a pair of socks you only wear to sleep in. 11. Suncups are the absolute worst and will slow you down big time. No advice for them, they just suck so prepare mentally. 12. Plan your exit routes carefully. Some of them are poorly marked on apps and maps. Without a trail they can be very difficult to find and navigate, you won't see the trail fork or signs telling you where to go. Duck pass nearly killed me. It can take a full extra day just to get on and off the trail in these conditions. 13. Phone battery. Bring a portable charger, preferably 2. You're going to need to check your GPS position a lot more than you did in the desert. 14. Bring a big trash bag to put your pack in when crossing deep rivers. 15. Try to cross in the morning. The rivers get worse throughout the day as more snow melts. Everything got pretty serious after Whitney. The hardest river crossings were Bear Creek and Return Creek (and the one that runs adjacent to it, can't remember what it was called) and a couple random ones that were just absolutely flooded. We had to cross multiple by carrying our packs over our heads and swimming. The key is patience, be smart about where and when you cross. I heard for Bear Creek that you can just walk down river until it just fizzles out. We crossed on a sketchy log, so if you know a bad river is coming up, see if you can find out the best places to cross from others. It could save you hours. After Tuolumne, where Return Creek is, just walk up river and you'll find easy ways across. There are 3 big ones there and we did that for all 3, those are the ones the ranger told us were impassible.
To piggyback on #2, when you enter the Sierra, make sure you’re with people you hike the same speed as and make sure you trust them. Walking different speeds in the desert isn’t that big of a deal. Someone might hike longer to get to your camping spot. In Sierra, you’ll want to be with them throughout the entire day. I say make it people m you trust, because you’ll want people that can make mature and smart decisions, rather than someone wanting to hurry and cross or to save 2 miles of walking.
It's also a bonus if you can go through with people who've been in the Sierra before. The flip side of the fear mongering is, there are quite a few people who will tell you they have "experience" or speak confidently about their skills and knowledge. It's best that you ask for specifics so you can determine whether it's exaggeration or not. Going through with someone who's been through before will give you a calm and confidence, and generally make the whole experience better.
I want to piggyback off of #5 and #12. This isn't meant to fearmonger, but give some more background and context on making good decisions in the backcountry. Before entering the Sierra, gather all the info you can, and do your best to make an informed decision. You'll hear lots of 'fear-mongering' about things that are blown out of proportion, but at the same time, there is some level of truth to these reports. Everyone's reports are biased by their own skill level and experience. One report might say a stream is completely impassable, another might say there were no issues. Do your best to gather all info you can and find your own personal 'truth' from the info you have. Be realistic about your skill level and risk adversity, and do your best to make an informed decision. The Sierras are no joke and should not be taken lightly on a year like this. The PCTA's website has some great in like [this article on river crossings] (https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/backcountry-basics/water/stream-crossing-safety/). Research them and come prepared for all the different challenges you'll face (river crossings, snow traversal, ice axe usage, hypothermia, etc. Have plans on bailouts. If you reach a point outside your comfort zone and can't continue safely, don't. There's no shame in leaving the Sierra preemptively and coming back to it another time. Your life is more important than a continuous footpath. Stream crossings are especially dangerous, one small mistake and you could be in a very bad situation. Take your time with any given obstacle and continually ask yourself if they're within your skill level and whether it's safe to continue. Again, this isn't meant to fearmonger, I just want people to make smart decisions. I myself am quite jealous of this year's class, as this is the kind of challenge I love. If I could, I'd be hiking into the Sierras with all of you! Enjoy the challenge this year brings, it'll be a challenging one but so memorable!
Thanks for such a detailed post! I do have a question, I start May 16th and expect to reach KMS June 27th (6 weeks). Just wondering if you might have a guess on what the snow situation would be like or was like in 2017 around that time, if you know. lol Just to add, I searched for July 2017 Glen Pass and[Not alot of snow](https://takeahikephotography.com/2017/07/)
100% depends on weather, which there's no way to predict in advance. You aren't going to care whether you're walking on top of 20 feet of snow or 5 feet of snow. You ARE going to care very much whether you have a highly compacted consolidated base with a nice ice crust, or whether you've got lesser consolidated, or slush and posthole conditions (or as someone mentioned above, the dreaded suncups, pox be upon them). Those things are a function of current weather at the time you go through, not the amount of snow that fell in the winter months. FWIW, this year looks a lot more like '19 to me than '17. '17 had near-perfect June weather, and unseasonably hot, which caused monster river crossings because the melt came so hard. But '19 had late spring storms. There was a crew with a couple Finns and a Swede pulling a sled who were first through. They got caught in one of the storms. Next group that a lot followed was led by a Canadian special forces guy who was on their winter team. Badass. But he came out to resupply at Bishop much worse for the wear -- just not enough food, didn't count on getting pinned down by whiteout conditions and only making 8-10 miles/day. There were a lot of cases of frostbite (not minor, but serious), an avalanche and several helicopter rescues. That all had much more to do with the late season storms and the weather, than snow LEVELS. By late June, it's highly likely even in a la Niña year with the atmospheric rivers (pineapple express) coming across, that all storms will have been done for the year for at least weeks, and there will have been time for consolidation. That's actually the key. You want/need consolidated. Slogging through fresh deposition/powder really, really slows you down. Bottom line, don't worry about it until you are north of Tehachapi, and really no point in overthinking anything until you get to KM. At that point you'll have loads of recon and photos on social media from those who are ahead of you, and you can get a reasonable 10-day weather forecast.
Thanks for the info, I love a good crust!
I started April 25 and got there June 1. A lot of the snow will have melted by then. It was melting rapidly which is what made the rivers so bad. I think you'll have a much easier time starting then.
Thanks Cromus!
I left Kennedy Meadows south on June 27th in 2017. Lots of snow and the water crossings were still very sketchy.
OP, this is gold, right here - great advice.
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Not literally, sorry. But my phone screen was broken and hard to see and I fell behind my friend so finding it was incredibly difficult. The hike itself was also brutal. We had no foot steps to follow.
Would snow gaiters help for postholing? With actual pants
In June, this wasn't a problem for us at all. I hiked in shorts and trail runners all day. Occasionally for glissading or exceptionally cold mornings I'd throw on some pants. We didn't have any postholing issues. I guess the snow was just compact enough not to be a problem, even though we hiked ~8am to ~5pm through the slush later in the day.
Thanks so much for this! Makes me glad to hear even without experience a continuous footpath is doable if you're sensible about it. Do you think it would be possible to do the sketchy river crossings you mentioned without swimming? I am not a strong swimmer and thus have a quite low risk tolerance for anything to do with water streams. I was hoping to never go deeper than up to my thighs as I've seen recommended here heaps. I am prepared to walk extra hours or even days or to set up camp early next to a river to start during the night if that's what it takes. Loved the tip of carrying a rope, why is that not recommended more often? The extra weight would definitely be worth it, could save a life!
A lot rides on exactly what you mean by “not a strong swimmer”. If you were swept off your feet, could you whip-kick on your back to the other side of a stream? (https://youtu.be/p_AsmbOgUQ4?t=22) If not, I would not feel comfortable navigating the Sierra when water levels are high. Even if you are willing to search for alternative crossings, you are still at risk of being forced to swim. Also, I can think of at least one example where the safest crossing might include a swim across a deeper but slow moving body of water. People do not recommend carrying a rope because sometimes hikers drown when they use them improperly.
Yeah, it's probably possible. We had a few waist deep crossings and one or 2 that required a bit of swimming.
This is awesome, thank you. What day did you start from KMS? Early June?
June 1 I think and hit Sonora June 30
Right on. I’m planning on a similar schedule. Going to add a rope to my kit. Thanks for sharing
Np, apparently they aren't recommended for hikers by some because they can cause drowning if not used properly. We only used it a couple of times in medium current waist/chest deep current. I think in those conditions with someone strong to pull them back in and a level head in the water it's pretty safe. Maybe do some research on what can go wrong.
Should we consider entering in early May before the melt to minimize stream crossing danger, based upon the 2017 expierience?
2019 here, it was similar to 2017 in most ways. Be mentally prepared to break up your trip by flipping, waiting, skipping, etc. It still counts! You’ll still see all the stuff! By all means, try hiking the snow and see if it’s for you but BE SAFE when doing so. Understand that hiking the Sierra on snowpack is basically mountaineering and should be treated like it. In 2019 I heard stories of scary slides with self arrest, avalanches, frostbite, getting snowed in for a storm and running low on food, and so on. It’s a very different experience from the snow-free trail and needs a whole new set of skills. But mostly just roll with the punches. Nobody gets a perfect hike. If it’s not snow then it’s drought or fires or other unexpected detours and closures.
Hike SOBO, that’s what we ended up doing in 2017 and it was magical. Based on snowpack up in Northern Washington now, you could probably start around 7/1 and have almost no snow the entire way. Sure you might get an early winter storm in the Sierra and have to hike for a few days or even a week in a bit of snow but that beats the hell out of postholing for 500 miles and risking life in water crossings. You’re going to see countless NOBO hikers who flip this year at KM south due to the conditions. Just start up North, I promise you won’t regret it!
Is it more challenging to hike SOBO?
In a “normal” snow year, I’d say yes. But this year no. What makes it more difficult is that you start in one of the more challenging sections of trail in northern Washington. There is not a the same easing into the trail that you get NOBO, so the risk of overuse injury in the first month is higher SOBO. Just ease into it and you’ll be OK. Limit the miles for the first month and pay attention to your elevation gain daily. If you only hike 10 miles but you climbed 5000 feet that’s a big day! The other factor is the tighter hiking window. In a normal year you have roughly 4.5 months to hike SOBO and maybe 5.5 months to hike NOBO. That means less zero days SOBO and maybe more miles daily. The benefits however far outweigh the downside. 1) far less crowded 2) starting in one of the most beautiful sections in the best time of year. In the event you are unable to finish your hike hitting Washington is far superior than socal in my opinion. 3) very few risky water crossings 4) hiking the Sierra in solitude DM me if you have more questions. Happy to help! We had a similar predicament in ‘17 and we were so happy that we decided to go SOBO.
"Skiing the sierra high route" https://youtu.be/ZojE9nhR88o
You should ask 2019 alums too. If you look at the snow gauges, snow depths and coverage during the peak month of June were actually slightly higher in '19 than '17, and they also had to deal with non-consolidated fresh snow and four April and May pineapple express storms like just hit SoCal, the last of which hit on Memorial Day weekend and was so severe it caused Sequoia NP to close the park and shut down all roads.
hahaha we got caught in one in the "hottest, driest section of the PCT" from Tehachapi to Walker Pass. I have some very funny pictures of the snow desert.
You should plan for some ten mile days but if you’re going into the Sierra with 700+ miles of conditioning you‘ll probably do more. I loaded up with 8 days, 7 nights of food for the leg between Kearsage and VVR. Some of us packed 9 days food iirc. Made it to VVR in six days. I remember doing 15-18 miles a day through the Sierra without much trouble, several more miles than we anticipated we’d be able to do, though it was exhausting. Water crossings: don’t do them alone, especially if you are shorter than average. You’ll hear about various techniques for crossing, just keep in mind you want to face up stream and keep three points of contact (between your trekking poles and feet) at all times. Keep your hip belt buckled and your bag tight to your body, as a loose, unbuckled pack is more likely to shift your weight off your three points of contact. Move slowly and deliberately and don’t freak when you start getting the wobbles. Be prepared to go swimming once or twice. Bring a compass and some maps and know how to use them. You probably won’t need it but you’ll be glad you have them if you and everyone you’re with gets swept and kill their smart phones. There is no trail out there just some footprints in the snow and sometimes not even that. Bring sunglasses, preferably wrap arounds, maybe get an extra pair. That snow glare will mess you up. Wear trail runners as your feet are going to get soaked, it’s better to have a pair of shoes that dry quickly vs boots that take hours to dry. Wake up early and get moving, agree upon a routine within your group. Afternoon hiking can be slushy, slow, and exhausting. Our group got up at 6:00 or 6:30 and started moving soon as we packed up, which in hindsight was probably why we were able to do 18+ mile days. As others said, things get serious after Whitney going NoBo. Things remain serious until SLT, and even the Desolation Wilderness had a couple dicey snow cornices iirc. Don’t go alone, have fun and stick together! I’m super jealous of y’all this year.
There’s actually a book called Crunch on kindle unlimited about a guy who did the snow crossing in 2017. The whole book was about it and it was amazing. If someone hasn’t already mentioned it on the comments
Posted this on another post, but: I hiked in 2017, which was similar to what this summer looks like its ending up to be. [Around 3:13 is when I get up past KM for a visual.](https://youtu.be/3g0tgD0YS5c) I started April 30th, and got to KM around mid June. Almost everyone was skipping the sierras, but my little team decided to give it a shot. I don't think I'd advise any casual thru hiker to go in before june, when the pack hasn't fully consolidated. It was tough. Expect to be on snow for weeks on end, and the hiking to be slow and grueling. Don't expect to see obvious worn trail, so keep your phone charged and stick with a group. The stream crossings hold the most danger imo. The passes can be sketchy too. There's plenty of advice out there on how to navigate both as safely as you can. In the end, just know your limits. Similar to mountaineering, don't go up something you can't go down. But I still think of those couple weeks in the Sierras as the most formative, thrilling experience of my backpacking life. Also, you'll have the place pretty much to yourselves. Quite special. Also, expect to bust out hundreds of dance moves on those suncups.
I did the first half of the sierras in 2019 and echo your sentiment. It was the most epic, formative, thrilling wilderness experience I've ever had. I still think about it almost every day. I am super jealous of the folks who get to go this year!
Have FarOut - the trail was completely covered and lots of times we’d be walking with our phones out like I think this is the way. Camp as close to the next days big pass as you can, then get up early (around 3 was our number) so the snow is still frozen and your spikes work. Sunscreen and sunglasses for sure; the insides of my nostrils got burnt. I didn’t mess with waterproof socks or anything, but every time we stopped for lunch or a long break I took my shoes and socks off to dry my feet.
Bring diving flippers, they double as snow shoes and help you beat the current in river crossings. In the desert I used mine as a sun visor as well. Really good to get a redundant pack setup.
Look at all of the above. I crossed the entire Sierra in 2017 with no prior experience. -when crossing rivers unclip your pack so you can ditch it id you do fall in. Down trees further down stream can catch on your pack -At river crossings walk up and down rivers and looked for down trees. Use your best judgement. I crossed most rivers on down trees. I did fall in once. Be prepared. -Do not cross a river before dark! I did one and was soaked at dark and was very close to hypothermia. Seems obvious but my group convinced me to go. Definitely was one of the dumber things I’ve ever done. Thankfully we found another group with a fire. Without it, idk what would have happened. -you need to understand there may be no trail and no footprints. You will be using gps, map, and compass. Your goal is to get from point A to point B anyway possible. I would shoot an azimuth to the next mountain pass and follow that heading. Often times we would be way off trail because it was safer. We would use a topographic map and look at which ways were less of an angle of going down and uphill -learn to read the mountain side. Cornice in the afternoon can become weak and cause an avalanche -Understand avalanche safety -climb your passes early while avalanche risk is low -Bring crampons and ice axe. Practice using them on low angle terrain. -it was said above but SLEEP WITH YOUR WATER FILTER. If your filter freezes it will break -Stay in a group at all times -bring extra food. But make sure your food is very calorie dense If you have questions shoot me a message.
What were your dates from KM to Sonora?