<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></FONT>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.!<br>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Jonathan Ley <jonathan@phlumf.com><br>
To: Jack Haskel <norcalhiker@gmail.com><br>
Cc: CDT MailingList <cdt-l@backcountry.net><br>
Sent: Wed, Jun 9, 2010 3:47 pm<br>
Subject: Re: [Cdt-l] Snow on the Waterton route?<br>
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<div style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; COLOR: #000; FONT-SIZE: 12px" id=AOLMsgPart_0_58a8410e-ec3f-44b9-98ed-9fdd79d744c9><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT>One dangerous bit will be the ahern drift... This is a place where the snow
sluffs off a steep cliff onto the trail right below it. It gets icy there as
there is little sun exposure, and it's pretty steep where the trail crosses /
traverses. However, the dangerous bit isn't very long... Maybe 50 yards or so?
If you have an ice ax, you can chop steps pretty easily. I wouldn't want to go
through there without an ax. Later in the season, the nps shovels out a path,
but don't expect that to be done by June 18th or whatever. Surely they'll try to
discourage people from traveling this route, but if you're familiar with this
kind of travel, it's not bad.
Another area that can be trouble if it's not melted is the trail down from
swiftcurrent pass, if you go that way.
The passes tend not to be too steep... It's the traverses that are more
problematic on the highline trail. When I went through there the snow had melted
just enough that we had a sliver of trail to walk on usually. If there had been
another foot of snow, many of those trail sections would have been more
challenging... Bottom line is that an ice ax (and the knowledge to use it
properly) is a good idea in GNP in June.
Jonathan
On Jun 9, 2010, at 11:17 AM, Jack Haskel <<A href="mailto:norcalhiker@gmail.com">norcalhiker@gmail.com</A>> wrote:
> So... with this discussion. What is the Highline Trail and the Waterton route
actually like with early season snow? Anyone have photos? Experience? My
impression is that it's not just difficult, but quite dangerous. I've seen a few
photos of the trail passing over exposure and cliffs. I imagine that if it was
covered in snow, it'd be so dangerous that few would pass. Some of the passes
look steep. Would one need to frontpoint up and down them? I've hiked through
lots of spring snow. I don't mind the difficulty, it's the danger that puts me
off.
>
> Anyone know what it's like?
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