Benjamin Spillman

bspillman@rgj.com

An attempted winter through-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail by two Sierra Nevada adventurers is either inspiring or ill-advised — depending on who you ask.

Ned Tibbits, director of the non-profit Mountain Education, a wilderness safety and training center, said he spoke with adventurer Justin Lichter of Truckee before Lichter and adventurer Shawn Forry of Midpines, Calif., started an attempt to complete the 2,650-mile trail in winter.

"This guy is asking for a death sentence," Tibbits said. "I simply don't have the faith he is going to have a safe and successful venture. If we have even a normal winter he is going to have trouble."

Tibbits, who has snowshoed and skiied the John Muir Trail in the central Sierra Nevada and hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, said winter conditions in the Cascade range and Sierra Nevada can be so harsh that Lichter and Forry, who each have extensive winter and summer backcountry exprience, might find more hardship than they bargained for.

"I really pressed him to find out what his experience is in deep snow camping," Tibbits said. "He is going to have some serious avalanche conditions and snow conditions that will seriously delay him and exhaust him."

But Whitney LaRuffa, president of the American Long Distance Hiking Association - West, disagreed with Tibbits' assessment. LaRuffa, who has extensive experience of his own with backcountry skiing, backpacking and mountaineering, said he couldn't think of two people more qualified for such an attempt than Lichter and Forry.

"If any two people can do it in the community it is the two of them," LaRuffa siad. "They are both very athletic, at the same time they are not risk-takers."

LaRuffa said the planning involved, which factors in 30 days for weather-related delays, shows they're taking a sensible approach.

"This wasn't just some harebrained idea," LaRuffa said. "The spirit of adventure these guys have is amazing."

Lichter, a ski patroller, has more than 35,000 miles of backcountry experience around the world and Forry more than 15,000 miles. The two also completed a 150-mile ski-and-hike trip last year between the Sonora Pass and Mammoth Lakes.

They've made comprehensive plans for gear, resupplies, and to identify bailout points for the trip. In an interview before leaving for Washington to start at the northern terminus of the trail Lichter spoke about the plans. A resupply itinerary on Forry's website anticipates the trip, which began last week, will take until early April to complete. They plan to take a break around the Chirstmas holiday before resuming.

"We've been thinking about this trip for five years," Lichter said in an interview before departure.

Forry acknowledged in the same interview that planning has been a challenge because there isn't much precedent for such a trip. An official at the Pacific Crest Trail Association was unaware of any such credible attempt in recent years or decades.

"There really isn't anyone to ask how to do this," Forry said. "It will be a lot of figuring it out as we go."

But Tibbits said even the recent backcountry ski trip might not be enough preparation for Lichter and Forry, because it happened in a low snow year and in the spring when, Tibbits said, the snow is more stable.

Lichter and Forry are carrying food in their backpacks. Tibbits said on Sierra Nevada snow excursions he's brought a large sled to haul enough food to wait not only for the end of a storm but the days it can take after the storm ends for the snow to stabilize.

"The earliest I have been in the high Sierra is March and we got a dumping that kept us in our tent for a week," he said.

Both Lichter and Forry are part of the culture of ultralight hiking, a practice in which distance hikers carry as little as 10 pounds, or even less, of base weight plus food and fuel.

Tibbits is more of a traditional backcountry traveler who uses weightier gear and carries more supplies. He said big storms could snow the two in long enough to threaten their food supply.

LaRuffa disagrees. While Lichter and Forry are traveling as light as possible, they have bulked up supplies for the winter trip. He said a 12 pound pack can contain enough fuel to last 10 to 14 days and during storms backcountry adventurers can ration their food.

"(Critics) assume you are taking more risk because you have less stuff," LaRuffa said.

Lichter and forry will have access to five-to-seven-day weather forecasts which they can use to modify their pacing to avoid or minimize exposure to bad storms.

They plan to use a mix of boots, snowshoes and skis depending on the depth of snow. They're also taking avalancge probes, beacons, ice axes and crampons.

Still, Tibbits said avoiding avalanches will make travel excruciating. Travel on ridges means exposure to harsh conditions and unstable snow. Travel in canyon bottoms means deep snow and trees and boulders that can hide holes in the snow. And traversing the middle of a slope can be slick, icy and prone to causing avalanches, he said.

"All it takes is a good patch of snow with powder on it and he is done," Tibbits said. "Then it is search and rescue time."

LaRuffa concurred that they could face avalanche danger. But he added that travel might not be as slow as Tibbits suggests, especially if there is enough snow for extended skiing.

"It is a very efficient way" to travel, he said. "You are skinning up and skiing downhill. It is not like they are snowshoeing or postholing from Canada to Mexico."