I’m going to add a few more things.
The scenery was absolutely beautiful, it was like in the Lord of the Rings, the endless snow covered mountains, the waterfalls, the wild forests and lush green meadows, and two very hungry hikers.
Previously in Kennedy Meadows (the end of the desert), there were a lots of fear talks between the PCT hikers about the snow and dangerous high passes. It made me worry a bit as well. Some hikers packed ice axes, some decided to wait a week until the snow melts more, some decided to skip this part entirely and return later.
We knew there will be lots of snow, but hoped for the best, so we decided to just start with micro-spikes only.
We started our hike with Spyglass (Tommy). Previously we hiked with him big sections in the desert and he wanted to stick with us, because Solid (Mike) is quite experienced in the High Sierras and we also enjoyed his company. The last 2 weeks in the desert Spyglass had experienced some pain in his right knee, and unfortunately it got worse. He tried everything to make it better, but eventually he had to quit the PCT and went home to Denmark. He is a great hiker, and it was devastating for him as well as for us that he had to leave.
After Tommy left, we saw another great hiker got injured and it really made us feel lucky and appreciate that we are still in this game.
I will have to write about Forrester Pass and Glen Pass.
Forrester Pass: After we climbed Mt. Whitney, we were back on the PCT and we were heading towards Forrester Pass. It’s the highest point of the entire PCT.
Mike is showing below where Forrester Pass is.
A night before crossing Forrester we camped at 12000 feet, 1 mile before the pass. We woke up with an alarm at 4:30 am. We didn’t sleep to well and we were awake before the alarm went off. Other PCT hikers were coming as well as the sun rose. One woman said that all she was dreaming about, how she’ll fell off Forrester Pass. All PCT hikers looked a bit scared but ready and determined. We must do this, we can’t quit now.
As we started climbing up on the snow covered south side of the mountain, we put our micro-spikes on. The snow was icy and our spikes worked great on the surface. Things are going well so far. I felt like I’m part of an Everest expedition. We were going slow and watched all our steps carefully, watching out for each other. We did a few switch backs and getting close to that famous most feared snow chute.
First Mike went, then I did. The danger zone was only about 35 steps, but one wrong move and next thing you know, you are back to base camp. I didn’t look down, I just looked ahead, left foot, right foot, left foot…
We survived. At the very top there was one more sketchy spot, but we did it!
The north face of the mountain had even more snow, and it’s always like that. It’s time to go down.
As the air is warming up and the sun is hitting the snow, the snow starts to melt. Our micro spikes will work less and we could post-hole. We made it down safely with a few post holes.
A small mustard yellow plane was cruising between the white mountain peaks and flew close to us. We waived at each other and I thought the view is just breathtaking.
Glen Pass:
Glen Pass made Forrester Pass a piece of cake. Going up was easy, but coming down was frightening. The north face was covered with snow and it was the steepest high pass that we crossed. I thought my leg will not get sore after 800 miles, but it did. We went down fast but we constantly had to focus and put the breaks on.
The scenery after was spectacular.
The High Sierras is one of the most beautiful place on Earth. The John Muir Trail and the PCT overlap each other here. During this 2 weeks we experienced one of the most prestigious hike in the whole world!
Margo & Mike PCT Adventures 