Re: High Sierra Camps

About 5-6 years ago, after a heavy snowfall winter, the High Sierra Tent Camps* remained closed for the entire season, any word if that will happen this year?

Inquiring minds want to know!


*5 or 7 depending on who is counting

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

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Frank Furter
About 5-6 years ago, after a heavy snowfall winter, the High Sierra Tent Camps* remained closed for the entire season, any word if that will happen this year?

Inquiring minds want to know!


*5 or 7 depending on who is counting

I think it's a bit early for that to be decided.

The "bathroom" guy we talked to just below the Nevada Crappers
(he works on the bathrooms) said "they" were talking about Tioga
not opening until July... and if that is the case they probably will
not open any or only open some.
If you look at the Merced Lake Trip thread you can see the snow level
at Merced HSC.

Time to start guessing when Tioga will open (isn't today the traditional day that "they" usually started the plow?)

Oh, goody -- looks like I will bee skiing Dana in July!

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The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.

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Bee
(isn't today the traditional day that "they" usually started the plow?)

The rumor I received is they will start Tioga on Monday and that they have already started on Glacier.

Hopefully they will start plowing. Where did you hear this rumor?

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Marksm
Where did you hear this rumor?

There's a ranger on Twitter.

What is his account? Have they plowed?

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lizzy79
What is his account? Have they plowed?

They should be plowing now. But I haven't heard anything yet.

On Tioga Road, what will cause the most delays is the snow condition in the avalanche zones. High snow levels elsewhere and downed tree shouldn't cause too much of a delay, but the Park Service will not let the snowplows and other snow removing equipment proceed through the avalanche zones until they deem that it's safe to do so.

And I presume Caltrans will have Hwy 120 plowed east of Tioga Pass well before July. I wouldn't be surprised if Caltrans has 120 east of Tioga Pass plowed and opened before Memorial Day.

They've been VERY careful ever since a worker died after he and his plow were buried in an avalanche.

I don't believe that it's Caltrans working on the road. Isn't it NPS?

More info on these pages:
Tioga and Glacier Point Roads Opening & Closing Dates
Tioga and Glacier Point Roads Plowing Update

"Yosemite National Park road crews are assessing the Tioga Road for current conditions and avalanche danger. This is the largest snow year the park has seen since 1995. Over ten feet of snow is still covering the Tioga Road."

South Fork of the Tuolumne River bridge, April 19, 2011.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2011 05:02PM by qumqats.

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qumqats
I don't believe that it's Caltrans working on the road. Isn't it NPS?

Caltrans plows from the east up to the park boundary at Tioga Pass. Some years they go beyond that and plow into the park to help get the road open earlier.

So NPS starts on 120 at the Yosmite Institute gate, Caltrans at 395, and they meet at T Meadows.

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qumqats
they meet at T Meadows.

Don't count on that this year. Caltrans might not have the budget.

In which case the road opening will be even latter!

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qumqats
I don't believe that it's Caltrans working on the road. Isn't it NPS?

Caltrans plows SR120 up from US395 on the Eastside.
They generally will continue plowing past the Tioga Pass Entrance Station and stop at the west end of Tuolumne Meadows.

Was gonna say "WUTT!" to the South Fork pict. ... but I see it's an nps
photo. I guess they can do what you are not allowed to. Kinda irritates me nonetheless.



p.s. My guess is that Lizzy is perhaps not aware just how long it takes to plow THAT much snow.
They don't make many miles per day when they start. (and they have about 45 miles on Tioga to do)

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chick-on
Was gonna say "WUTT!" to the South Fork pict. ... but I see it's an nps
photo. I guess they can do what you are not allowed to. Kinda irritates me nonetheless.



p.s. My guess is that Lizzy is perhaps not aware just how long it takes to plow THAT much snow.
They don't make many miles per day when they start. (and they have about 45 miles on Tioga to do)

Some of the snow removal is done with the large snowthrowers. The augers occasionally get torn up eating rocks in the road . Then there are the downed trees to deal with.

My WUTT! was in reference to the snowmobiles.

But yes, they use the blowers/augers along with a myriad of other large equipment as such:
(this was last year at Taft Parking lot along GP road in May)

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Are they plowing now already? Is it clear?

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DanPJ
Are they plowing now already?

Just staring to.

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Is it clear?

Clear of snow? No, it's buried under 10 feet of snow.

10 ft! I want a pick of snow walks on the side while the road is clear.

10ft. I guess we need to wait for nature to take its course.

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tomdisco

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chick-on
Was gonna say "WUTT!" to the South Fork pict. ... but I see it's an nps
photo. I guess they can do what you are not allowed to. Kinda irritates me nonetheless.



p.s. My guess is that Lizzy is perhaps not aware just how long it takes to plow THAT much snow.
They don't make many miles per day when they start. (and they have about 45 miles on Tioga to do)

Some of the snow removal is done with the large snowthrowers. The augers occasionally get torn up eating rocks in the road . Then there are the downed trees to deal with.

Yeah, that was my understanding of the problems: rocks and downed trees damaging the equipment. If you have 3 pieces of equipment and 2 of them are damaged and have to be repaired, you won't make much progress.

As for the snowmobiles, come on chick-on, you know the rules only apply to us. They're above the rules!

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oakroscoe
As for the snowmobiles, come on chick-on, you know the rules only apply to us. They're above the rules!

By the looks of it, about 10 feet above the rules in that photo.

I was planning on backpacking in mid July but changed it to second week in August, due to allowing someone else to have that vacation week. I like going earlier in the season, because i like have plenty of creeks around with water to drink (Biggest fear of mine, not having water). I think it might just work out okay this year going later.