Hi Sierra scramblers and ramblers, After a busy Labor Day weekend here, we are coming into our favorite time of year in the Eastern Sierra. The aspens are beginning to turn, the fireweed has gone to seed, the night air is getting crisp and cool, the sun is getting lower in the sky, the days are getting shorter, and the sunlight sparkles a bit more against the granite. These changes signal the coming of fall and we are pretty excited …
Alpine Conditions Report – Incredible Hulk – July 2, 2014
Howdy alpine rock climbers. This edition of the Alpine Conditions report is focused on the Sawtooth Range and specifically the vicinity of the Incredible Hulk. We just spent a few days there in Little Slide Canyon and would like to share with you our findings. Read our recent trip report from the Red Dihedral for a nice photo gallery that will further inform and titillate you. (Love that word titillate, and glad for the opportunity to use it with you …
Alpine Conditions Report- Palisades- July 1st 2014
July 1st 2014. Alpine climbers and enthusiasts, we just finished a trip into the Palisades. Here is a breakdown of current conditions. Approaches and Camps: The North Fork of Big Pine Creek is dry walking all the way to Gayley camp. The sites at Gayley camp are dry. There is still water and melting snow at Gayley camp. The mosquitos are out through Sam Mack meadow. The Bishop Pass approach is dry through Thunderbolt …
Alpine Conditions Report – Mt. Whitney – June 12, 2014
Current conditions on the East Face and Mountaineer’s Routes, from June 11th, 2014. Here are the current conditions for Mt. Whitney. We just finished a successful East Face trip! We were able to complete both the climb and the descent without using ice axe or crampons. You would now be able to avoid snow completely on all routes. There is still ice on Iceberg Lake but there is plenty of open water. We had some afternoon thunder snow, so pay …
Alpine Conditions Report – June 7th
Mountain people, We have been out and about for the past few weeks. Not much new to report for alpine ice climbers. Couloirs are still quite snowy, and the firnification process has been slow due to continued snowstorms through May. Some couloirs do have patches of ice exposed due to the dry winter (see last Alpine Conditions Report). This Alpine Conditions will focus on the Mount Whitney zone and you can extrapolate it out to other areas I’m sure. Near …
Backcountry Snow Report – May 13, 2014 – Season Wrap-up
Well, it’s an early wrap-up for this season’s edition of the Backcountry Snow Report. We may update again if something noteworthy happens with the weather, but overall things are settling in to their predictable spring patterns. Expect sunny warm days with cool nights to provide epic corn skiing above 10,500 to 11,000 feet for a little while yet. So far, we are not seeing any major sun cups or penitentes forming, which means I, for one, have not necessarily hung …
Alpine Conditions Report – May 13, 2014
Hi there mountain people! It is that time again when we start getting calls and questions asking us about mountain conditions for alpine climbing and general mountain access. We have been running this report for the last 7 or 8 years, but we hope to up our game this year with this new website format to give you the best, most useful, and most up-to-date information on the web about conditions in the High Sierra. History & Background After …
Backcountry Snow Report – May 9, 2014
Howdy Skiers and Snowboarders! Hope you have been getting into the Sierra in the past month or so. The end of season wrap-up has been as good as it gets, considering the winter drought. Corn conditions have been excellent and some cold storms have kept the powder skiing dream alive. On Monday and Tuesday we had a fantastic cold front pass through that dropped 2-4 inches of snow that stuck down to 8000 feet. A little moderate winds from SW …
Backcountry Snow Report – May 6, 2014
Skiers and Snowboarders… …that is, if there are any of you left out there. After a lot of wrangling, I was able to find one interested and available ski partner for a 3-day tour who wasn’t busy shaving their legs for a bike ride, complaining about the short ski season. Although things look like late May-early June out there, conditions are absolutely all-time. We enjoyed some of the best spring skiing imaginable during the last high pressure window. No sun …
Backcountry Snow Report – April 27, 2014
Hi there skiers and snowboarders! Apologies to all the followers of this blog. I hope both of you will forgive us, as we have been busy “getting it while we can” here in the Eastern Sierra. It has been great to run into so many friends from near and far around here with the same idea. Although it has been one of the driest seasons on record, the spring is actually shaping up for us. So many people are talking …
Backcountry Snow Report – April 13, 2014
Eastside panorama: Williamson to Split in the southern zone. Since the last report conditions have changed significantly, due to a major spring thaw in the past week. Evening temps have been below freezing above 10,000′ and radiation has been cooling the snowpack surface as well. Transitional spring snow conditions have transformed to Sierra corn and skiing has been excellent on most sun-exposed slopes with enough snow to ski, above 9500′, and without forest cover. Slopes that have yet to completely …
Backcountry Snow Report – April 7 & 8, 2014
Get it while you can – Janis Joplin Skiers and Snowboarders, The first half of April generally features the maximum snowpack of the season in the Eastern Sierra. This year coverage is thin, but surprisingly adequate if you choose your location thoughtfully. Yesterday on the 7th, SMG ski guide Mark Shelp and I were able to easily ski from and to the truck parked on the upper Buttermilk Road into Birch Creek. Today, we also skied from the Virginia Lakes Road …