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Hi everybody,

I was hoping to get one more climb in for the year this weekend, and maybe next weekend. I was just wondering what the conditions were like on the DeCaLiBron. How much snow is on the ground up there? Also, how much of it would melt by Sunday? I don't have any equipment and/or experience on snow climbs, so I was wondering if it could be done in just hiking boots?

I would expect a bit of snow up there this weekend but, I think hiking boots would be sufficient. However, I am just speculating based on what I can see of the Ten Mile Range.

Next weekend...who knows, a lot can change in a week.

Any updates on the conditions of the Decalibron? I was thinking of getting in one last climb this Sunday, 10/7/12.

You should be prepared for high temperatures in the 30's and winds in the mid-20's. The
forecast for Democrat is calling for only a few tenths of an inch of new snow, but it will be blowing around.

Jim Davies wrote:You should be prepared for high temperatures in the 30's and winds in the mid-20's.

This is your first opportunity to find out if winter hiking is really an option for you or not.

Edit: Not addressed to Jim, but rather winter newbies.

As of last Saturday, the Decalibron had some snow on parts of the route, but was in good enough shape to be done in hiking boots.

That's good to hear. I'm not so much afraid of the cold as I am the ice and snow on the trail. I have hiking boots that are in decent shape and trekking poles. The two friends that I am hoping to go with just have hiking boots. One more climb for the year would be nice but I don't want to get up there and find out that we have almost no shot of summitting.

I was up there yesterday and used microspikes, but saw several others moving around without them. On the way down I did receive quite a few comments of "Gosh, wish I had those". There was no deep stuff anywhere if that is what you are worried about, just packed down stuff on the trail.

The wind was another story. On Cameron it was strong enough to force us to get out of there before finishing the loop. We kind of darted across as best we could between gusts. Not sure how strong in mph, but enough to knock us over if we weren't braced for the gusts.

for peace of mind you could carry microspikes...kahtoola makes good ones and they are pretty cheap and work reasonably well. also pretty light to carry in your pack.

CSchoick wrote:I was up there yesterday and used microspikes, but saw several others moving around without them. On the way down I did receive quite a few comments of "Gosh, wish I had those". There was no deep stuff anywhere if that is what you are worried about, just packed down stuff on the trail.

The wind was another story. On Cameron it was strong enough to force us to get out of there before finishing the loop. We kind of darted across as best we could between gusts. Not sure how strong in mph, but enough to knock us over if we weren't braced for the gusts.

My girlfriend and I climbed Sherman on the 3rd, and the wind was crazy gnarly. I actually had to hold onto her as we walked the ridge up to Sherman because the gusts (on top of the brutal sustained wind) were actually knocking her over.