Day 66 – 27 May 19. Over Mather Pass and Welcome to Postholing

Today 15.6 km (9.7 mi), Total Distance 1318.4 km (819.2 mi). 7 hours 5 minutes (0840-1545)

It snowed during the night but not heavily. I left it on my tent to give me some insulation. When I woke up at 0600 it was -5 degrees C and I decided I had no desire to start moving when it was that cold so I went back to sleep. I was nice and warm in my sleeping bag.

Eventually my bladder forced me up and not long afterwards the sun came over the mountain adding a nice injection of warmth. I took my time packing up and after shaking the snow off my tent let the sun finish drying it.

Eventually I was off. Despite being early the snow was soft as last nights snow had not had time to consolidate and had covered the snow of the previous day.

The trail continued downhill. I kept to the side of the hill rather than drop down to the river.

After 20 minutes I was very glad to see some tracks. It was two people with snowshoes and they were fresh that morning. Either they did the pass very early or camped higher up. I was very glad to see the tracks as it meant I did not need to concentrate as much on navigation and it would be easier to walk in the snow.

The tracks continued down the hill which now got steep all the way down to a river. I crossed at a snow bridge but stopped and carefully went down to the river to fill up my water bottles.

Now it was 5 miles of uphill to get to the pass. The tracks wound through the trees. Unfortunately the snow was still pretty soft and I was sinking in a bit. It was better if I could keep in the snow shoe tracks but they were just a little too far apart for comfort so I alternated between striding out and keeping in the tracks and taking shorter steps, sinking into the snow.

Once the trail climbed above the thicker trees the waking was much better and I was able to get in a better rhythm. My legs were a little tired but not as bad as yesterday. I was also still out of breath and feeling my heavy pack so I was stopping to get my breath back often and took a couple of breaks.

I was enjoying the warmth of the sun. It was a beautiful blue sky day and I had fantastic views of rugged mountains all around me.

The tracks continued climbing and I was above the tree line. Now there was solid snow, broken only by the occasional rocks and the undulations of the ground.

The clouds started appearing, covering up the sun. When there was no sun it was really hard to make out the tracks in front of me. I was skimming my eyes from side to side trying to pick up the faintest of indentations. Sometimes I could only see what was at my feet and the holes from the hiking poles were what I was following. Every now and again the sun would break through the clouds and the tracks would be obvious until it disappeared again.
There seemed to be clouds building up on the other side of the mountains to my front.

When I stopped for a break, less than 1.7 miles from the pass it started snowing a little. I was too hot from the hill climb to put a jacket on and it stopped snowing shortly afterwards.

I could see the pass in front of me. I lost the tracks so just headed up a ridge and then could see the tracks climbing up the pass. I dropped down slightly and then stopped to put on my trousers, crampons, gloves and get my ice axe out.

Now it was a steady climb along the side of the hill, then straight up, then along the hill then straight up, then along and a final straight up.

The snow was a little soft and while I had the luxury of footprints they were not solid and I was careful to stamp a secure hold each step I took. Some areas there were nice deep steps but some were just indentations and I had to make my own steps.

The straight up bits were hard as it was a tall person who had made the steps and it was a reach for me to get up to the next step. One part had really soft snow and I was having to make my own steps. I dropped into a step and went back to the last solid step. I saw that there was a large hole that I had nearly dropped into I tried to go along where the footprints were but the hole covered quite a distance so I had to make my own steps and climb above the hole, on the steep slope. I took my time and then re-joined the footsteps.

The final bit going straight up was really steep, and the footsteps were far apart and not stable. I would reach up and stamp down several times until I was sure the foothold was solid. Then I would plant my ice axe, punch a hole for my other hand and carefully step up to the next footstep and repeat the process. It was tiring and I am glad I am comfortable with heights.

Finally I got to the top and then had to drop down steeply to get to the pass. I could not climb up the pass because of an icy Cornice.
I was happy to be at the top and while I was climbing the weather had cleared up and it was back to blue sky. I took in the views before taking off my crampons and putting my ice axe away.

I could see the trail far below. There was a slight climb to get over the rocks and then it was down hill. There were nice slide marks so I got out my plastic bag and slid down a good distance. It was fun. The trail then continued dropping down and across the hill to the next slide which was steeper and faster. There was more down and across and then the final slide. Definitely a faster way to drop.
I was surprised by the amount of footprints. Either it had not snowed and frozen here last night of the people came through this morning.

The snow was soft and if I stayed on the tracks I was sinking in. If I kept to new snow I was mainly staying on top, sinking a few cm to the harder snow below, but sometimes I sank through that.

As I dropped elevation the snow got worse and I was postholing continuously. I tried keeping to the snow shoe tracks but they had cracked the harder layer so it was constant sinking. The other footprints were the same. It was ok where the footprints had potholed as it was easier to stay in their holes but where they hadn’t I was sinking in constantly.

It was hard work and not much fun, and that was while going down hill.

Once I dropped to the flat valley I decided I was not going to continue in the horrible snow. The energy expended while postholing was not worth the extra mile I would be able to do so I filled up with water where a stream fed into the lake and then found a campsite.

I used my snow shovel (plastic dinner plate) to clear an area and form some wind walls as the wind was picking up. Then I went through my normal night routine and was in bed by 1930. The sun was out for a little while but when it disappeared the temperature plummeted.

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