Sierra high route conditions for labor day?

[Scott M]

<p style=”padding-left: 40px;”>Hey all,</p>
Planning on doing a chunk of the SHR starting this Saturday from gabbot pass to devil’s post pile. Planning on going in from Rock Creek then around bear Creek spire. Curious about Snow and bugs? Any been in that area recently?

[Paul S]

Bugs yes. Snow thru there is basically all gone. I think the only place you might need to worry about snow (need for traction, etc.) would be Cox Col (assuming that’s what you are using to get around BCS). I’m basing this on my last couple of hikes and looking at the snow layer on Caltopo.

Hope that helps.

[Greg Mihalik]

Drifting …

Novice on Caltopo – Where do I find the “Snow Layer”?

Thanks.

end drift.

[Scott M]

Awesome thanks.  I tried it last October but got snowed out. Any details about Cox Col would be super appreciated. Didnt seem obvious from the bottom.

[Paul S]

Snow layer is top right where you select “Base Layer.” It is a select box dropdown. The snow layer is all the way at the bottom of the drop-down under “Daily Satellites.” The most useful one is “Weekly Hi-Res.” You can set the base layer to that then overlay another more map-ish layer on top (e.g., USGS scanned or MapBuilder Topo) at like 50% to see where the snowfields are exactly. It does not show much in the way of snowfields in places where they would be more than low angle; except maybe the approach to Cox Col.

I can’t give you much in the way of beta on Cox Col. I’ve just looked at it, and thought twice about it. I know it has been described as loose and chossy. Have you read the descriptions for it and North Col in Secor?

[Brad Rogers]

I was just south of that in Bear Lakes Basin a couple of weeks ago.  I did White Bear Pass, Feather Pass, and Puppet Pass (Carrol Col) on the SHR.  Snow was melting quick – I imagine it will be mostly gone by this weekend.  I wouldn’t think spikes or ice ax would be needed (we passed a girl through hiking the SHR and she didn’t have spikes in early August).  At the time, bugs were bad at the lower elevations, but not too bad up high.  My guess is they will be mostly gone by the time you get there but I would be prepared for some, especially in lower meadows.

[Link .]

.  New snowpack tool: Satellite imagery for CalTopo + GaiaGPS  .

[Matthew / BPL]

Greg, Paul – Try the false color options on the weekly high resolution layer. The one that turns snow into a bright cyan blue color is particularly useful when overlaying.

[Paul S]

Thanks Matt. Will do. Stoked on having a tool like this now.

[Author]

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