[pct-l] SOBO vs. Flip-Flop

[Ned Tibbits]

Johannes,

IF the west coast mountains get a "normal" to heavy winter, which it would 
seem that they may, and you want to start your SoBo endeavor in June, you'll 
have to do either or both of two locations first, if you want mainly dry 
trail, Southern or Northern California. That would be from Cottonwood Pass 
south or the stretch between Donner Pass and Oregon.

As many will say, it all will depend on the storm track, the date of the 
start of the thaw, and the intensity of the thaw.

Hey, I had 2-3 feet of snow throughout Oregon in July and still had a foot 
of the white stuff in northern Washington by mid-August of 1974. There was, 
also, 3-4 feet of snow at Echo Lakes in Tahoe on June 1st!

Stay in touch with the Goatsbeard store in Mazama, WA regarding what the 
actual on-the-trail snow depths are come June, since they have many local 
clients who are already checking it out!


Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education, Inc.
www.mountaineducation.org
ned at mountaineducation.org


Mission:
"To minimize wilderness accidents, injury, and illness in order to maximize 
wilderness enjoyment, safety, and personal growth, all through experiential 
education and risk awareness training."
-----Original Message----- 
From: Johannes Wolf
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2016 1:48 AM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] SOBO vs. Flip-Flop

Hey guys, here are Julia &
Johannes from Austria,



We are in search for some
advice...



We are going to hike the
PCT this summer, both we are super exited and can hardly wait to
(finally) get our feet down on the trail...

We did plenty of research
but there is still a lot of planning and decision making ahead of us
and many questions left.



It became clear to us that
we don't wanna go with the northbound 'herd', for many reasons

although we enjoy
good company, we are more in search for wide and open country and
some solitude, something which is really hard to find here in
Europe. Going with a big group of people doesn't seem to be the
right choice for us. Solitude > socializing! But only in this
case ;)
the discussion here
over the last months about some troublemakers only helped out in
this regard...
big groups of people
are so much more stress for the environment. “Leave no trace” -
is much easier to do if there are less people at a time.




Back at the beginning of
December Jeffrey Olson wrote the odds are that a southbound hike will
be very doable this year, which got our attention. A start date as
soon as early June could be possible, which would be awesome but it
is not easy for us from a planning standpoint. Here is the dilemma:
we have to assume that it is possible to start so early. If the
assumption is wrong, you guys just stay at your homes for one or two
weeks longer, but we would be 'stranded' somewhere in Washington and
probably would have to spent a lot of money for just waiting around.




Another possible option we
came up with: we could do a flip flop. We start somewhere in the
middle, for example in Ashland (Border California/Oregon, mile 1726),
around the 25th of May, heading north... Hiking in Oregon
at the end of may should be totally fine (right?) and when we arrive
at the major snow area  in Washington (mile 2400ish), most of the
snow should already be melted (right?). Then we somehow go back to
Ashland and start our quest for the mexican border.




Right now we tend to do
the flip flop, but we are really undecided...

Maybe you guys can help us
out... We are open to suggestions and any kind of help is greatly
appreciated!!



Greetings from
Vienna/Austria



j&J




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