GDMBR: Snow in Wyoming in May?!?

[Ryan]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to the forum and new to bikepacking. Not new to cycle-touring and backpacking, so my girlfriend and I are set on riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route this year, and had planned a South-North trip in June-July-August. Unfortunately, we have had to change our dates, and are now looking at mid-April or early May to end of June.
Going South-North, I realize it's unlikely we'll be able to ride the Colorado section. But would it be possible to ride New Mexico in early May, take a bus through Colorado and keep riding Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and BC/Alberta in late May to end of June? I realize that it depends a lot on the snow over the winter, but generally speaking, does anyone have any experience with typical snow coverage along this section of the route in May and June?
We are not interested in racing, and don't mind going around the bigger passes if they are impassable. But if over 50% of the route is still likely to be snow-covered, it wouldn't make much sense.
I've been searching all day and haven't found anything to specific about this online, but if this has been discussed already, please let me know.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Cheers,
Ryan

[sfuller]

Billy Rice rode S to N last year so he could be in Banff in time for the Grand Depart on June 12th. A late season snow storm dropped a lot of snow in Colorado and parts of Wyoming. IIRC, it was mostly the high sections that were impassable. There was a thread with photos in the race forum (possibly within the TD15 race thread, I can't remember). As you said, a lot will depend on how much snow the route receives over winter. FWIW, we had no snow on the route by the time we rode south on June 12th last year, despite the late season storm.

[mathieu]

In northern Wyoming the GD route goes over Union Pass and Togwotee Pass which are often snow-covered at end of May.

Snow conditions change from year to year. Some areas may have more snow than usual and others less.
In 2011 the Tour Divide Race, starting in the second week of June, had probably the worst snow conditions in its history. There were detours around the Canadian Flathead, the American Flathead and around Togwotee/Union Pass, if I remember well, and  also a long snow passage in Routt NF in northern Colorado. If you take the TD-2011 route as a backup to the ACA route and decide from snowcover maps and local information which one to take, you may be able to ride the GD route from south to north without motorized transport. But be careful: it is often easier to pass over a consolidated snow cover than over freshly-cleared dirt soaked in snow melt. Sticking mud is impassable!

For the possibly blocked passes, see the chart in http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/routes/great-divide-mtb-route-in-late-april/msg71122/#msg71122
Information about the TD-2011 detours (maps in Reply #1143) : http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ultra-racing/2011-tour-divide/1140/

[threepin]

i can't speak for the wyoming section but i can about the american flathead. Normal melt on red meadow pass occurs about 7/1. last year which was by far the the earliest melt in recent memory one could get to within say 2 miles or red meadow by late may.  Even the bypass route for red meadow should be snow covered into june, it is only about 300 ft lower and in the same area, you do get to skip whitefish divide going that way though.

Really late april, early may is often just late winter in the high country

it would be a shame to skip all the high high country and do all the the re-routes, there is a reason why the current route goes thru the canadian flathead vs the original route