Sun article: Massive snowpack delays hiking season

lulululu

From today's Vancouver Sun:

Massive snowpack delays hiking season
Snow still up to 10 metres thick on some high trails
Sunny Freeman, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, July 30, 2007

Snowball fights in August are only fun for so long, Dawn Hanna explained to her eight year-old son Sammy before cancelling their camping trip to Garibaldi Lake, where the ground is still glistening with white powder.
Extraordinary volumes of snow at peaks across the south Coast Mountains - from Whistler to Vancouver - mean hiking season is running late this year, said Hanna, author of Best Hikes and Walks of Southwestern British Columbia.
"There's tonnes of snow at most of the alpine hiking trails that are usually open at this time of year," she said.
As of June 15, when Environment Canada last reported on snowpack, general levels across the south Coast Mountains were 150 per cent above average for that time of year. At the Squamish Watershed, where the elevation is 1,340 metres, snowpack levels were 178 per cent over the norm. Dog Mountain, five kilometres east of Grouse Mountain, reported 139 centimetres of snow, which was 173 per cent above normal.
And at Mount Seymour last week, five of the eight hiking trails still had patches of snow.
"These results are way above normal. Even though they were reported June 15th, they are pretty indicative of what's up there now," said Doug Lundquist, a meteorologist with Environment Canada. "These results show that we are significantly behind in snowpack melt."
At Garibaldi Lake, where Dawn and Sammy wanted to go camping next weekend, there are still about 600 centimetres of snow on the ground. And some peaks still have as much as 1,000 centimetres of snow on them, spelling trouble for even the most experienced hikers.
When six well-equipped hikers who were taking the Stein Valley Trail had not made it to Pemberton on July 23 - a day after they were due to arrive - Pemberton RCMP coordinated a search to find the hikers.
The party had met with heavy snow at the halfway point of their hike and decided to retreat toward Lytton.
"There was too much snow at those higher altitudes for them to continue. It was pretty late in the season for that type of call, but you have to consider the harsh winter," said Whistler RCMP Const. M. Afzeel Yakub.
After Whistler received a record-setting 1,416 centimetres of snow last winter, the hiking season there has been abnormally late in starting, said Robyn Louwe, a representative of the Whistler Activities Centre. He has lived in the village for five years and never seen a season like this.
"When our hiking season begins on June 30, at least half of the trails up the mountain are normally open, but this year, none were. There are only five open right now on a daily basis because half of them are covered in snow," she said.
High Note Trail and Singing Pass are usually the most popular trails in Whistler because they are the highest and the longest, but this year both are closed.
That didn't deter Harley Francik, 12, and his North Vancouver family from attempting to hike Singing Pass on Friday. "At first we thought the snow was cool. Me and my brother were having a snowball fight," said Francik.
After hours of wandering the snow-covered paths without a map, the family got lost and had to call for help.
"The snow covered the paths so we couldn't walk on them. We tried to cut through the meadows but we lost the trail. Then it got dark so we looked for a way out."
After spending 10 1/2 hours trying to navigate the snowy peaks, the family was rescued, along with a couple from Texas that had also become lost.
But Louwe said she's not worried about the snow's effects on summer tourism. The snow on Blackcomb Mountain kept the skiing season running until Sunday, and dog-sled tours were still operational until last week.
"If it were anything but too much snow, it would be bad publicity, but it just shows we had an awesome ski season."
According to Hanna's hiking guides, optimal season for hiking Goat Mountain behind Grouse Mountain should start in July. But the season is about a month behind, said Hanna.
"I haven't and I wouldn't go hiking in the snow," said Hanna, a seasoned hiker. "I would advise people not to unless they're prepared for winter conditions."
If the snow doesn't deter you, the bugs might. Moisture from the melting snow, combined with the heat, creates a paradise for bugs like mosquitoes, Hanna said.
"It's not the most pleasant hiking season this year. It's challenging to find hikes without snow. Probably the best time to go will be in fall when the snow is melted."
It's best to stick to lower elevations until the snow clears. Bring a fleece vest and some bug repellent, said Hanna. And trudging through the snow in jeans and runners is a bad idea. If you try to, you probably won't be a happy camper.

lulululu

有所准备就很少问题了, 雪地hiking还有很有意思的 :wink: