[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[pct-l] Snow at Donner Pass



But 1969 was "the" snow year for the Sierra.  I remember skiing up at 
Tahoe and the cabin we stayed at in TAhoe City had snow higher than the 
eaves.  We had to dig a tunnel from the street 15' to the front door.  
It was eerie.  Also, I remember skiing at the old Shasta Snow Bowl that 
year and the road up to the ski area had what were easily 15' banks of 
snow that went straight up from the road.  When the sun shined through 
it was blue...  Amazing memories...

Jeff Olson
Laramie WY 24 or so days and counting...

dude wrote:

>I was on Dick's Pass in 1998 also, which is probably about 20 miles 
>south of Donner pass on the PCT and can tell you that ther ewas 
>ENORMOUS quantities of snow on that pass until the 3rd week in August 
>that year!
>
>
>
>  
>
>><<  An historical snow level chart displayed inside the bathrooms
>>shows that the latest recorded date for zero snow at the pass is June
>>15th.  Don't be surprised if that date is surpassed this year. <snip>
>>The weatherman claims this should be the last for the season.  We
>>shall see. >>
>>
>>I haven't seen the Donner Summit data (besides yearly snowfall
>>totals), but on July 6th, 1998, there were patches of snow in the
>>woods behind the restrooms (as well as some isolated shaded patches in
>>nearby Soda Springs), and within about a half a mile north on the
>>trail (in the direction of Castle Pass), it became almost entirely
>>snowbound, and about 2-4 feet on the ground by 1.5 miles from the rest
>>area. From the southern Sierra to Lassen, 1998 experienced a highly
>>unusual (perhaps never-before recorded) stretch of 13 days in a row of
>>rain and snow (depending on elevation) from June 1st to June 13th or
>>14th. Snowpack was increased during that period with very little
>>melting. Many areas had their wettest June on record to add to an
>>already very high precipitation season. One unconfirmed report from
>>the town of North Fork (in the foothills) recorded a trace snowfall as
>>low as 2,600 feet around the first of June. After the 14th, the
>>pattern ended abruptly, and it was sunny the rest of the month. But
>>the snow stayed a very long time after that, perhaps outlasting the
>>'83 longevity in some areas. The road through Lassen Park around the
>>18th of July was a canyon of 5-20 foot walls of snow on either side.
>>
>>So my point is that the wet conditions we've had this month are not as
>>anomalous as they seem, and we might be hard-pressed to surpass the
>>dates of zero snow cover achieved in '98, unless we have another rare,
>>persistently snowy June.
>>
>>wc
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>pct-l mailing list
>>pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
>>unsubscribe or change options:
>>http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>>    
>>
>_________________________________________________________________
>    http://fastmail.ca/ - Fast Secure Web Email for Canadians
>
>_______________________________________________
>pct-l mailing list
>pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
>unsubscribe or change options:
>http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>  
>