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Hi does anyone know current (March 2) snow levels on the canyon trails ? In particular Grandview and Tanner ? I have a " escalante" hike planned starting next Wed. The rangers claim people are going down but it's not clear if they are day hikers on a short walk or backpackers. Basically need to know how deep the snow is on the descent and any opinion on the risk. I'd be worried about navigating around snow covered rocks / depressions, thanks , Rob

@robxxx

Some new pics on Facebook show knee deep or more on Bright Angel , not a good sign.

The park service just closed Grandview trail , too icy, so that's the answer, too risky.

@robxxx
The upper part of Grandview is unpleasant when it's icy. I hope it melts off before too long. My start is six weeks from today.

@big_load

Ya hopefully good in a month, now they closed Tanner NewHance and Grandview ! Must be slick. Also someone said the "Papago slide " part of the escalante hike is shifting from the weather presumably the big rocks are moving.

robxxx wrote: ↑Mar 04 2023 3:19 pm @big_load

Ya hopefully good in a month, now they closed Tanner NewHance and Grandview ! Must be slick. Also someone said the "Papago slide " part of the escalante hike is shifting from the weather presumably the big rocks are moving.

Oh my! Parts of Tanner and New Hance can be hairy under the wrong conditions. I have a lot of forgetting to do before I revisit the upper part of the Papago Slide. Big rocks moving under my fairly insignificant weight are unfortunately too memorable.

Seems a group got stuck in the snow heading out of grandview and had to
be air lifted out ! I suppose they didn't know of the last storm while they
were at the Tonto level then got stuck after the storm on the way out. The post is on Facebook Grand Canyon Hikers page. This presumably caused the trailhead closures. Moving uphill is hard enough without deep snow, they probably got exhausted and stopped etc.

robxxx wrote:Moving uphill is hard enough without deep snow, they probably got exhausted and stopped etc.

Yeah, the upper part of Grandview is pretty steep. I don't enjoy it much when it's icy, but that's a picnic compared to breaking trail in fresh snow. I wonder if it was deep enough that they couldn't advance safely due to uncertainty over where the trail went.
Also, I guess multiple feet of fresh snow could pile up at key spots that might be too dangerous to pass even if you know where the trail is.