[pct-l] Snow in May, and Preparation

[Ned Tibbits]

>From our observations, it's a lack of personal and practical on-trail 
experience.

It seems many have the desire but lack the training of previous journeys. 
Out of a romantic zeal to attain something from the hike, they research and 
assume and rarely test themselves and their food/gear in the identical 
conditions that lie ahead.

Are the guide books telling aspiring hikers what these conditions can be?
Are future hikers reading the Journals of those who have gone before to hear 
what they went through?
Do hikers really know that Preparation includes On-Trail Testing and 
Training     if you want to be safe, successful, and have fun along the way?
        Take a self-arrest course, go snow-camping for a week and cover 100
            miles, spend a week in a rain forest and really see what it 
takes to hike
            day in and day out in the rain, etc..
The most valuable tool for your success is between your ears, what you know 
and how to put it to good, practical use where you're going.

No matter how much we preach it, preparation, planning, training, testing, 
the lemmings just keep on coming.

Mtnned

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean Nordeen" <sean at lifesadventures.net>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 8:48 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Snow in May


> It seems to me every year that we have a good snow storm in May, there are 
> always a couple of people hiking across the San Gabriels (and I'm sure 
> elsewhere) who are not prepared for the weather.  I can remember, in 
> previous years, reading several Trail Journals and hearing several tales 
> of people stumbling into the Mill Creek Summit Station or some other 
> similar place, or finding a ride on one of the road crossings while on the 
> verge of suffering from hypothermia.  I always wondered why, if they were 
> so cold, didn't they stop and pitch their tent and wait it out in the 
> warmth of their sleeping bag for a day or two.  Afterall, what's a few 
> days of short rations to dying from exposure.  Well, I also always 
> wondered about their lack of gear or experience in getting more out of 
> what they were carrying, but that is too obvious to really comment further 
> on.
>
> But the idea that all of SoCal is all desert and it never rains/snows 
> seems to be a common misconception to most of the nation.  I've seen that 
> attitude stated in a few of the Yahoo PCT groups over the past few years 
> that I joined when I started to think about thru-hiking.  There is always 
> someone who talks about leaving their raingear or their tent/tarp out 
> until the Sierras to save weight.  And many of the gearlists are really 
> light on clothing layers.  For some reason, when some look at the maps 
> showing the trail climbing to 9000ft or the mention of a couple of ski 
> resorts along the way doesn't seem to register.  It's like their 
> preconceptions are blinding them to what they are reading in the 
> guidebooks and other places.
>
> -Sean
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