peak sun hours

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peak sun hours #77580 06/18/10 06:26 PM
Joined: Apr 2010 Posts: 40 ** rob111 Member
rob111 Member Joined: Apr 2010 Posts: 40 **	Hi guys Doug Sr. in his "cook" post said," Hit the snow during the peak sun hours and return before the sun moves to the west side , this window makes it hard for first timers to make both conditions , if you get to he summit late expect the chute to be ice on your return" . I am doing the dayhike on the 24th. I am just wondering when (time of the day) the shadows usually start to hit those east facing slopes. I dont want to come down on a sheet of ice. Lets just say we make it to the top of Trail Crest by 10am......round trip to summit 3hours........bcak to the top of the chute around 1pm..........will the sun still be shining on that east face???

Re: peak sun hours rob111 #77587 06/18/10 11:16 PM
Joined: Jan 2010 Posts: 2 CA birdhead Member
birdhead Member Joined: Jan 2010 Posts: 2 CA	I was up there on Monday (June 14th) for a day hike. We had pretty good conditions on the snow chute (i.e. - fairly hard and stable on the way up and soft enough on the way down). Here is our basic timeline: We got to trail camp at 7am, took a 30 minute break, and headed up the chute. We were at the top of the chute by 9am or so and then took another 30 minute break. We hit the summit at 11:30am, left at noon, and were back at the top of the chute by 1:30pm going at an easy pace. We descended the chute around 1:45 or 2pm and conditions were such that one could glissade safely or step down (we had crampons on when we were not glissading). The sun was still on the chute. Another friend of our descended at 4pm and was still able to glissade part way. Our basic approach was to descend the steepest portion by walking with crampons on, then traverse over to the area away from the rocks that gives you a good run-out, take off our crampons, and then glissade. Hope that helps. Dan

Re: peak sun hours birdhead #77590 06/19/10 02:45 AM
Joined: Feb 2009 Posts: 25 ocean beach CA sea2summit Member
sea2summit Member Joined: Feb 2009 Posts: 25 ocean beach CA	You can use the "time slider" in google earth to get a really good idea of where and when the shadows fill in. If you haven't used this function in google earth before... you might burn an hour or so playing around with it. It can't account for weather, but other than that, gives you a pretty good idea about the shadows on any route, any date, at any time. Just look for the icon in the google earth menu bar that looks like the sun peaking over mountains. Couple this with a noaa hourly weather graph with temperatures at elevation and you can start to get a pretty good picture of how things might/could be.

Re: peak sun hours birdhead #77597 06/19/10 01:09 PM
Joined: Apr 2010 Posts: 40 ** rob111 Member
rob111 Member Joined: Apr 2010 Posts: 40 **	Dan (Birdhead) what time did you leave the portal to be able to make it to Trail Camp by 7 ?? Originally Posted By birdhead I was up there on Monday (June 14th) for a day hike. We had pretty good conditions on the snow chute (i.e. - fairly hard and stable on the way up and soft enough on the way down). Here is our basic timeline: We got to trail camp at 7am, took a 30 minute break, and headed up the chute. We were at the top of the chute by 9am or so and then took another 30 minute break. We hit the summit at 11:30am, left at noon, and were back at the top of the chute by 1:30pm going at an easy pace. We descended the chute around 1:45 or 2pm and conditions were such that one could glissade safely or step down (we had crampons on when we were not glissading). The sun was still on the chute. Another friend of our descended at 4pm and was still able to glissade part way. Our basic approach was to descend the steepest portion by walking with crampons on, then traverse over to the area away from the rocks that gives you a good run-out, take off our crampons, and then glissade. Hope that helps. Dan

Re: peak sun hours rob111 #77599 06/19/10 02:45 PM
Joined: Jan 2010 Posts: 2 CA birdhead Member
birdhead Member Joined: Jan 2010 Posts: 2 CA	We left the portal at 3am and took one 20 minute break and a few shorter breaks on the way up to trail camp.

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