Saline Valley - question about winter access

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Posted by Marek Cichanski on November 18, 2001 at 22:09:57:

Here's a question for the experienced Saline Valley hands...

I was curious if anyone has an overall impression as to how often Saline Valley is snowed in during the winter?

I've mostly gone there in fall or spring, outside the times when one would expect to find snow on the North and South passes. Last winter, I went to Saline shortly after New Year's, and camped at the springs for the first time. It had been a really dry winter up to that point, and there wasn't any snow on the North Pass approach.

I'm hoping to make another visit over Xmas break this year, and I'm just wondering what my chances are. I guess that, in a way, this is a really difficult question to answer, since California's winter weather is quite variable, and this variability is accentuated out in the Sierran rainshadow region.

When there IS snow, is there any point in attempting to chain up and get through, or is that generally pretty dicey?

Thanks,

Marek Cichanski


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