WanderLearn Forum with Francis Tapon

We are hiking the PCT this year a friend is trying to get me to sign up for his advanced snow class (10 days long). We have no snow hiking experience, but bought microspikes and an ice axe which we practiced with at Tahoe a few weeks ago. What would you recommend? Should we take this class, or will we survive on our own? Since you hiked the PCT with 200 miles of snow, do you think you could you give us a little advice??

10 days of snow training!? WTF? That's total overkill. 10 hours is PLENTY.

If it is a high snow year, I'd consider going to a few days of the class if you're insecure. Since I know you've through hiked the Appalachian Trail, you have a good amount of grit to not be too intimidated by snow. That's what kills people: snow intimidates them. It's foreign. They're not used to walking on it. But if you have a relaxed, yet focused, mental attitude, you'll be fine.

If it's a normal or low year, definitely don't take a 10-day class, then forget it. You might not even spend 10 days in the snow on the whole PCT!

I'd skip the class.

I'm not sure how you practiced. The best thing to do is to find a semi-icy slope that it pretty steep but as a safe runoff (where you can't die if you fail to self-arrest). The more slippery and icy the slope the better, because that's the most challenging type of situation to traverse. Soft snow is easy to self arrest - that's fine to practice on that if you're starting out or if it's really steep.

ALWAYS practice with your fully loaded backpack on.

The key is to practice falling and slipping in awkward positions: fall backwards, head facing downhill, and try to twist as you're sliding down and self arrest. If you can do that, you can do anything.

On ice, learn to throw all your body weight to drive that ice ax into the snow/ice. And kick your feet as hard as you can to create that 3-point triangle.

If you find super icy, steep snow, then find a way around it (even if means hiking downhill 50 meters) or use your ice ax to cut steps out. Both of these tactics are time consuming, but be patient with snow. If you're insecure on a steep/icy slope, take your time. Another tactic that doesn't require physical effort if it's early in the morning is to cook a meal and wait two hours still the sun softens the snow up.

Good luck,