Greetings Ice Climbers….What an exciting week of weather for California Ice climbers and backcountry mountain users. The conditions are constantly changing during one of the wettest winter months that we have had in a long time. Since our last report we have had nice well forming ice on new years day with lots of folks out climbing at Horsetail, Roadside, and Lee Vining Canyon. I spent my New years Day climbing pitches on the Main wall which has been fattening …
Eastern Sierra Backcountry Snow Report – December 23rd, 2016
Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays backcountry enthusiasts! This installment of the BC Snow Report comes after an excellent week plus of early season backcountry skiing and riding. The last storm came in last Thursday wet and heavy with rain up to 9000’+ before cooling and amounting to more than 3.5 feet of snow in 24 hours at 9000′ on Mammoth Mountain. A record 14 inches of liquid water equivalent fell in this period but, unfortunately, a large amount of …
Eastern Sierra Ice Report – December 17, 2016 ***Special Video Update***
Hi California Ice Climbers!!! Welcome to the ever changing saga of ice melt and growth….Finally we have some good conditions for the ice to thicken and form with exciting new drips all over the place. We have our first Video ice report for the season with special footage filmed by SMG Guest Joost Daniels from our Ice 101 this weekend. Lee Vining Canyon Our in depth video report from today….Check it out!!! Details about: Snow amounts Avalanche observations Approach Climbing Conditions …
Eastern Sierra Backcountry Snow Report – December 11th, 2016
This installment of the Report will be by video… Here are some other images for your added information and enjoyment…
SkiMo is neither.
If you appreciate words, like I do, you may on occasion grieve the loss of them. Our culture changes and so too does our language. Handheld communication devices incentivize us to seek to conserve increasingly in demand stores of linguistic energy to create more time in our lives. We are quick to embrace language shortcuts like lol, lmfao, and cul8r. These abbreviated sentences, when used effectively, can save valuable seconds that grow to minutes, that add up to hours, days, …
Eastern Sierra Backcountry Snow Report – December 27th, 2015
Happy Holidays backcountry skiers and snowboarders, December has been good to us. Small to medium storms with winds in between is the pattern. The winds of December 21-23 toppled dozens of full grown beetle-killed snags in the June Mountain backcountry and littered the snow surface with an unprecedented amount of detritus on top of sastrugi. Not such fun conditions, after a couple weeks of excellent cold powder skiing. Fortunately, it was a white X-mas and we got another 1’+ on top. …
Eastern Sierra Backcountry Snow Report – December 18th, 2015
Hi backcountry skiers and snowboarders, The 2015-16 snow season is underway! Hopefully you have had a chance to reconnoiter with the white stuff, either at the resort or in the backcountry. If you haven’t, don’t worry, this season is still being hyped and prognosticated as the Donald Trump of El Niños, it’s HUGE! Since the beginning of December, there have been 3 small to medium sized storms that have impacted our area. From these, Mammoth Mountain recorded 24 inches of …
Eastern Sierra Ice Report – November 25th, 2015
Season’s greetings ice climbers! Once again, the nip is in the air and thoughts turn to climbing frozen waterfalls. That means we are excited to provide consistent, up-to-date reporting on local conditions throughout the season. We guide and climb in the best ice climbing venue on the west coast, and we hope you will get a chance to enjoy the ice here this season. We have been getting a lot of questions about how the ice is doing. We have …
Alpine Conditions Report – July 1, 2015
Howdy mountaineers and high country enthusiasts, Hope you are all enjoying summer at this point. We are! After the driest winter on record, the High Sierra experienced one of the wettest calendar months ever. The town of Bishop hit May records for amount of rainfall and consecutive days with precipitation. In June, mountain weather has remained somewhat unusual with daily high temperatures spanning more than 30 degrees F in many locations. In Bishop, 17 days have hit highs in the …
Alpine Conditions Report – May 8, 2015
Crazy year. After the biggest drought on record in California, we enter late spring with a series of storms, the last two of which are the biggest of the year to date. This weather is wackbards! It’s supposed to be high and dry in the summer/fall and stormy in the winter/spring. That’s what all of us high mountain lovers have come to expect and appreciate. The situation is out of sync, like a mountain guide trying to dance to 90’s …
Alpine Conditions Report – April 18, 2015
Hi everyone, Welcome to the High Sierra Alpine Conditions Report! This is the first one of 2015, transitioning early from the Backcountry Snow Report for skiers and snowboarders which we will not be updating further this season, courtesy of “the big dry” (the biggest drought on record in California). The drought is a bane for almost everyone, and we should all be a lot more concerned than we seem to be, but it does represent a boon for alpine …
Eastern Sierra Backcountry Snow Report – February 25, 2015
Hi bc skiers and snowboarders, The pictures tell most of the story. Best worst winter ever! People are asking us about where to find the goods. It is a bit tricky at the moment but if you succeed then you will be welcomed to nirvana. Cold smoke and face shots are so cool and refreshing after an eternal indian summer. Here’s the secret: The snow is incredible between 10,000′ and 12’000′ where the terrain is sheltered from the wind, shaded …
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