[Cdt-l] Snow on the Waterton route?

[cicelyb250 at aol.com]

Or if you walk by in late July the drift is gone (at least in 2009).  The highline trail to Waterton is oustanding in July.!





-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Ley <jonathan at phlumf.com>
To: Jack Haskel <norcalhiker at gmail.com>
Cc: CDT MailingList <cdt-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Wed, Jun 9, 2010 3:47 pm
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] Snow on the Waterton route?


One dangerous bit will be the ahern drift... This is a place where the snow 
luffs off a steep cliff onto the trail right below it. It gets icy there as 
here is little sun exposure, and it's pretty steep where the trail crosses / 
raverses. However, the dangerous bit isn't very long... Maybe 50 yards or so? 
f you have an ice ax, you can chop steps pretty easily.  I wouldn't want to go 
hrough there without an ax. Later in the season, the nps shovels out a path, 
ut don't expect that to be done by June 18th or whatever. Surely they'll try to 
iscourage people from traveling this route, but if you're familiar with this 
ind of travel, it's not bad.
Another area that can be trouble if it's not melted is the trail down from 
wiftcurrent pass, if you go that way. 
The passes tend not to be too steep... It's the traverses that are more 
roblematic on the highline trail. When I went through there the snow had melted 
ust enough that we had a sliver of trail to walk on usually. If there had been 
nother foot of snow, many of those trail sections would have been more 
hallenging... Bottom line is that an ice ax (and the knowledge to use it 
roperly) is a good idea in GNP in June.
Jonathan

n Jun 9, 2010, at 11:17 AM, Jack Haskel <norcalhiker at gmail.com> wrote:
> So... with this discussion. What is the Highline Trail and the Waterton route 
ctually like with early season snow? Anyone have photos? Experience? My 
mpression is that it's not just difficult, but quite dangerous. I've seen a few 
hotos of the trail passing over exposure and cliffs. I imagine that if it was 
overed in snow, it'd be so dangerous that few would pass. Some of the passes 
ook steep. Would one need to frontpoint up and down them? I've hiked through 
ots of spring snow. I don't mind the difficulty, it's the danger that puts me 
ff. 
 
 Anyone know what it's like?
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