>>270352I was all up in that shit.
I remember walking across Fontana Dam and talking to the ranger who checks your pass as you enter the park. I asked him if he knew what the weather would be like and he just shrugged and said, "Snow." I'd seen a bit of snow already, so I wasn't too worried but that first day it was just cold misty rain. That night it turned to snow, and the next morning there was about six inches on the ground, but no biggie. I started out by myself pretty early, and it was still snowing and didn't stop.
Progress started to get more difficult, and I took an extended break in a shelter while me and some guys built a fire to thaw frozen camelback hoses. Still snowing, still snowing. Eventually one of the guys left and I went with him so he wouldn't be by himself. We struggled up the mountain in shin-high snow and at some point I turned around and he wasn't there. Visibility was really low and I started yelling, but eventually he showed up with the rest of the guys from the last shelter. We Slogged through deeper and deeper banks. Thank god there were footprints in front of us to mark the way. We got to the next shelter and I crawled inside my sleeping bag for an hour. We Tried to build fire with frozen wood, but it was hardly effective.
