Friday, October 4, 2013

Mile 2600 Winthrop to Manning Park, CA

What a day of decisions and indecision. As soon as I got up I spread out the new maps on the kitchen table and taped them together, grabbed a cup of tea and started to check out our new route. That's when I noticed that our low altitude escape route into Canada at Monument 83 was actually 6500 ft.  Oops! No one else we knew was taking this route so we might have to break trail though the snow. Not good. Then Adam, who worked at the hostel and who has done a lot of climbing in the area came over to look at the map. He wasn't sure that the most northernly trail that connects to the PCT even existed anymore. He said he'd call a friend. The friend said the trail exists but at Frosty Pass, over 6000 ft there are two avalanche chutes etc. and we'd be breaking trail. We'd also be on our own with no one in front or behind us and no PCT app that tells us where we are on trail (or not). 

So that route is a no no. The Ross lake route is a no no because of park closure. This made the PCT start to look like the safest option. Tracy posted a note on the Class is 2013 Facebook page asking if anyone had actually completed the section from Harts Pass to the border in the last few days. Meanwhile we went to the outdoor store to check out snowshoes, boots and winter gear. In there we met Rafiki, a hiker we know from Alaska who'd just come off trail at Harts Pass and was returning snow shoes. She said the snow was beautiful, but that there were already signs of unstable snow and she felt unsafe without an ice axe. The current snow is melting and will turn to ice at night so the next dump of snow will set up dangerous avalanche conditions. According to the forecast the next snow is Sunday evening. This is Friday. There are only 38 miles from Harts Pass to Manning Park, Canada, but we're unsure how many miles a day we can do on snow.  Dilemma Rama! What to do?!

The worst part of this decision making was that it was gloriously sunny today. We need just 3 days to safely get through the next section but we only have a 2 day window of sun. If we'd been able to leave this morning we'd be okay. Timing! Timing. 

After much deliberation we went for SAFETY first. :(  Talking of safety, one of the Japanese hikers who had gone missing was safely rescued by helicopter this morning. Another hiker who has been missing for 5 days near the goat rock area has not been found, PCT hikers have been asked to help in a ground search. 

I'd also like to point out that although my brother encouraged us to go on, (see previous blog entry) saying gingers wouldn't let a wee bit of snow discourage them, he later confessed that in the face of danger our survival may also have included holding back and letting people with dark hair go in front. :)

So, once the FedEx package with my visa extension arrived we got in the camper and drove up to Manning Park. Tomorrow we'll hike southbound to the PCT monument at the border. 


4 comments:

moirac said...

Ing, your experience on Lochnagar must have helped you arrive at the best decision. We are all so proud of you two. The mountains you have crossed. Xxxxx

moirac said...

Ing, your experience on Lochnagar must have helped you arrive at the best decision. We are all so proud of you two. The mountains you have crossed. Xxxxx

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