<font color='black' size='3' face='Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'>lower snowpack in the gila's - san juans at 115% of normal - all of the storms going north<br>
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<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>el coyote</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Keith and Mary</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Trail Angels</FONT></STRONG></div>
<div><STRONG><FONT size=3>Deming, NM</FONT></STRONG></div>
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<div style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,helvetica; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Rick Ostheimer <rick.ostheimer@sbcglobal.net><br>
To: nglintner <nglintner@gmail.com>; cdt-l <cdt-l@backcountry.net><br>
Sent: Thu, Mar 10, 2011 7:37 am<br>
Subject: [Cdt-l] Reccomend snowshoes in San Juans?<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_f10a79c6-bb19-496a-8c3c-6d30d54b3290><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT>Nathanael,
I'm with Ice Axe. I recommend ice ax and microspikes, but believe that
snowshoes wouldn't be worth their weight. I just reviewed my journal
for the section after Chama that I hiked last year. It was a unusually
high snow year for NM and southern Colorado, whereas, based on the snow
charts at postholer.com, this year looks like a low snow year for those
areas. I started N from Cumbres Pass on June 6, a week and a half
before your planned kickoff. By then, only 8 days after IceAxe set
out, a great deal of the snow had melted so that there were places where
sections of the trail were disclosed. I don't recall much postholing,
but do remember how spectacularly beautiful this section was. I also
remember needing to kick in a lot of steps and to spend a lot of time
route-finding. I'd checked with some friends who were ahead of me
(luckily got through to their cell from Chama where I nero'd to them at
Silverton where they were zero'ing) and they advised taking extra food.
I'm glad I took an extra day as my mileage, like Ice Axe's, was down to
1mph. YMMV, of course, and will probably be much better due to the
lower snow pack this year.
Handlebar
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