Do you think snowshoes may be needed on the PCT this coming spring? I was going to get micro spikes but I hear its going to be a bad winter again. If so what ones should I get?

I suppose it matters where and when in the spring you are going to be. I can say with some confidence that in the North Cascades come say, April 1st, you'd want them!

But honestly, if you are a north bounder leaving aruond the end of April, it's still too early to say where and if you will need microspikes, crampons or snowshoes. Ok, likely you could go wihtout snowshoes. Last couple of years were big snow years. In 2009, it wasn't at all. Yeah, there was plenty of snow in the Sierra but I walked across it in nothing more than trail runners. Last year there was snow for much of the trail at higher elevations, and people used microspikes and crampons. But snowshoes? Probably not so much.

If you haven't checked it out, these questions are great to ask on the PCT List Serve. The link is http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/

Many experienced people are there and on top of it, these questions do come up and are discussed pretty much in depth, especially in the weeks leading up to the PCT Kickoff.

Dirk

Kahtoola MICROspikes are pretty much all you should need.

but the micro-spikes are often used.

In even the biggest snow year - like this year - you won't need snowshoes. By the time you hit it, the snow is consolidated. I have not hiked the PCT, but I was at Muir Pass this year on May 25th (on skis) and even then the snow was pretty firm. The microspikes, or other traction devices, will be useful on the crusty, icy mornings.

By the time you get to the snow it will be icy hard to walk on. It won't matter if it's 2 inches thick or 10 feet thick. Even so, a heavy snow winter doesn't mean it won't melt quickly.

For skiers and winter campers it's going to be a "GOOD" winter.

I was one of the probably no more than 2 thru-hikers who used snowshoes on the PCT in 2006. The other one was hiking with me and a third hiker in our party didn't have them so I think I can compare. Beware 06 was a high (late) snow year and we entered the high sierra in early june.

Snowshoes were definitely not needed in the sense that it could be done without them. Our snowshoe-less companion did well as did also a few other hikers in front of us. On the other hand, the snowshoes definitely improved the experience for the two of us with them. It was hard for everybody but it was particularly hard to posthole for miles and to know that was your fate.

It's still debatable the extra 3+ lbs (in my case) were worth it for the time I'd be using the shoes. I don't have a definitive answer. In the morning, the snow is solid enough to hold a person+pack weight but in the afternoon it'd became posthole hell and you do need the afternoon hours to make any significant mileage. In early june 2006, we'd cover several miles every afternoon before we would be out of the snow. Between Pinchot and Mather we wouldn't get off the snow at all.

The PCT takes the easy way across the high sierra and the terrain is quite gentle from a mountaineering perspective so it'd be possible to get across in nothing but hiking shoes but the snow is still a tricky playground and some tools add to your security and capacity to extend your hiking time slot. Crampons help in the early hours when the snow is still frozen. Snowshoes help later when it becomes soft. Sometimes you may need to cut your day shorter one way or the other for not having either.

That said, I'd take an axe and a pair of crampons before anything else. Snowshoes are more a convenience than a security tool and a relatively heavy one. I took them because it was a high snow spring, because I could (and eventually did) enter the Sierra early and because I already had them. Take out any of those conditions and I had probably not taken them.

"For skiers and winter campers it's going to be a "GOOD" winter."

+1 Eric!

I agree with others that it may be unnecessary weight. However, if you found yourself stranded and below the treeline, you could improvise some shoes pretty easy with cordage, binding material and a couple of saplings. Not as good as the real thing, but could really get you through a bad situation.

Why do you say it's going to be a heavy winter? Can people actually predict that?

The weather forecasters have some opinions. There are wildlife biologists who study the thickness of fur that animals have developed by a certain date, like November 1. Then they attempt to predict the winter based on that.

--B.G.--

Yes, could the OP provide more information about where they heard this prediction from?