[pct-l] ice axe instruction

[William Skaggs]

> Or, assuming I depart from KM around the sacred date of June 15, is it 
> possible I could get away without carrying one at all? Would that be 
> dangerous?
>
>(Secretly I?m hoping California is about to be struck by a freak heatwave, 
> so by the time I get to the Sierras I can happily trek over cute little 
> snow patches, maybe constructing a few snowhikers along the way ? But I 
> know this is wishful thinking ? not to mention unhealthy for the state's
> reservoirs and aggies, sigh.)

So far this has been a low snow year -- around 70% of normal in
the Sierra region.  Unless that changes -- and it would take
some really massive storms to do it, because March is *normally*
quite a snowy month -- I would think that an ice axe won't be
worth its weight after June 15 regardless of whether you know
how to use it.  In mid-May, you would probably want one.

Incidentally, you can keep track of the snow levels by looking
at:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reports/DLYSWEQ.html

The CENTRAL region includes the High Sierra.  There are other
pages at the same web site that give current snow depths at
a whole bunch of locations.

(And by the way, there was so much snow the past two years that
California ag is not going to suffer this year even if there
is no more at all.)

Best wishes,

  -- Bill

 

 
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