Pure Grits Adequate for Snowy Mtn Passes on JMT ?

If the snow is soft, yes pretty much any shoe is fine.

If the snow is hard, no shoe will work.

Runout high angle snow that is hard in shoes is a deathwish. Cross snowy areas in the afternoon when it is soft and a pair of vans will be just as good as those fancy treads.

If your friend thinks he can cross a snowy frozen pass in the AM, dont follow him and make sure you say "goodbye" :-)

There is a large gradation of conditions that exist between 'hard' and 'soft' snow. Many of those conditions it would work best to have a stiff soled boot with vibrum tread… not just for traction, but also for kicking steps into the snow if necessary…

It is good advice to cross the snow sections mid day or so when the snow softens up… but… it doesn't always work out that way… sometimes you want to cross in the morning…

bill

"we will be headed over several mountain passes, most of them snow covered."

This time of year, in a low snow year, you might consider taking crampons. Or at least Micro Spikes. Taking a winger on hard snow with a bad run out, even low angle, is almost certain to end unpleasantly.

Just to clarify, my input is based on my experiences with the original Pure Grit shoes. I have no experience with the newer Pure Grit 2s.

I find the Pure Grits to be slippery on even wet pavement/rocks. I don't think I would feel comfortable trusting them on general "summer in the Sierra" snow travel or even wet, polished granite for that matter. I would prefer to wear a shoe with a more aggressive lug pattern and stickier rubber… which is too bad, as the shoes are otherwise super comfortable to hike/run in!

Maybe your buddy could pull it off if he paired his runners with some microspikes for the snow travel sections?

Adan Lopez has been exclusively using the original grits for probably over a year now. I've seen him get up and over anything and everything…snow, sand, mud, river crossings, etc. I briefly owned a pair and think they'd be sufficient.

I've looked over the Pure Grit2s and the traction appears better than the originals to me.

I say go for it. While I don't currently own a pair, they're certainly the type of shoe I'd wear up there…maybe just add microspikes if worried about snow.

Better he gets up there in a shoe he likes than try something entirely new just before a trip.

I've been running in the 2's for a couple of months, the traction is pretty decent- if it's very rocky I'd be a little worried about my feet, the grits are definitely in the lightweight range w/o a lot of protection

with snow almost a certainty, for the minimal weight of microspikes I'd certainly be packing them- regardless of shoe choice