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HIKING THE PCT, PART II BBC Correspondent and Travel Writer Simon Willis and his partner Liz Krol are hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, 2658ml from Mexico to Canada. Emotionally and physically, Forrester Pass was a high point of our Pacific Crest Trail. Thirteen thousand feet above sea level, it revealed stupendous views in either direction. To the South, the massive mountains of the Great Western Divide held just enough snow to sharpen their relief. Flat areas in the white below revealed themselves as snow covered lakes only by their tiny fringe of duck-egg blue melt-water. To the North, the Kearsarge Pinnacles rose abruptly, threatening to tear holes in the blue Sierra sky. It was our best moment since Mexico. We thought getting here had been pretty tough. With warm clothes, river crossing shoes and six days food our packs probably weighed around 36lb when we left the small community of Kennedy Meadows. We did not know how lucky we were. Chris Townsend is one of the world's most accomplished long distance hikers and I'm pleased to count him among my friends. He hiked this trail in 1982, and e-mailed to say he left Kennedy Meadows with an astonishing twenty three days food! "I loaded up with ice axe, crampons, snowshoes and insulated booties" wrote Chris. "My pack weighed over 100lbs. Well over, that was the limit of the scales. I couldn't lift it - I had to sit down to put it on or set it down on a rock. And every hour I had to take it off as my shoulders and hips were numb. Absolutely crazy!". We read this open mouthed. How could we complain with packs a third of the weight? Of course, Chris hiked this trail before the "ultralight" revolution, before GoLite was a gleam in Coup's eye, and before Ray Jardine published his Pacific Crest Trail Hikers Handbook. Jardine rejected big loads and long distances in favour of hiking fast and light, making frequent town detours to re-supply. He also recommended entering the Sierra Nevada no sooner than mid-June in an average snow year. Chris is a world renowned authority on backpacking, but none of this knowledge or any of today's lightweight equipment was available to him in 1982. In an exceptionally high snow year he ventured into the Sierra Nevada a whole month earlier than most would attempt today. So while Forrester Pass was our highlight, Chris had an epic. "Hard snow on the south side", he wrote. "I abandoned the zigzags, climbed straight up the gully and needed a rope for assistance to get up the last vertical ten feet. There was complete snow cover from Kennedy Meadows to Tuolumne Meadows." Before starting the PCT I spoke to the trail statistician, "Meadow" Ed. Flipping through his records he confirmed 1982 was such a high snow year, only two people managed to complete the trail. Of course, Chris's name was there. Looked at one way this encourages us, surely we can succeed in easier conditions with lighter packs. But then, seen from another perspective - the pressure really is on! Simon Willis travelled to the USA with American Airlines and is sending his dispatches using Pocketmail.com.