Out of Bounds
CALIFORNIA
PS I HATE YOU
Posted in Out of Bounds | 0 Comments
The January Report
This is not Year Four: I refuse to call it that. Yes, there are indications Mammoth Pass will see its lowest February water survey reading in history, and yes, Mt. Baldy has already given up the ghost here in SoCal, but I am not yet ready to face reality. We still have a solid thirty days or more to choose to believe a March Miracle is coming (more…)
Posted in Current Conditions | 4 Comments
Kids: The Snowplow Returns
As parents we are oh-so-sensitive to regression. We fight tooth and nail for every scrap of developmental progress, be it reading, eating with utensils, escaping diapers, or not drawing on walls, and when those inevitable moments of regression shatter our complacency, our sense of loss and even outrage can be overwhelming. (more…)
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Happy New Year!
It was cold! We darted up to the Big Bear Lake area just in time to catch a surprisingly potent overnight storm, plus a very un-SoCalish 10° F day at Snow Summit. The Bear resorts are now proudly declaring they’ve got better conditions than at any time last year, and with a foot of fresh powder, who can argue? The Wall should be open this weekend, if it’s not already (more…)
Posted in Current Conditions | 13 Comments
Mammoth Wind
If the north wind is the scourge of the Sierra (as Mingori and Greenberg write) it is doubly so for isolated, treeless Mammoth Mountain. High winds and holiday crowds made for harsh conditions on the hill Saturday and early Sunday, with Mammoth forced to shutter not just the top but also many of their key arterial, lower mountain lifts (more…)
Posted in Current Conditions | 3 Comments
It’s Coming In Warm…(UPDATED)
Good news, bad news again from the west coast: indications are we’re on the cusp of seeing a major winter storm hit California, perhaps the most significant storm of the past several years. Also good: indications are that we have an authentic storm track pattern setting in, in which a number of storms—not just one and done—are en route (more…)
Posted in Current Conditions | 2 Comments
Snow, Rain, & Mesh Canopies
The good news is it’s early December and there is skiing in Southern California. The bad news is last week’s heavy rain did exactly what you’d expect to the local resorts’ man-made snow: it hammered it. In the space of a week we’ve gone from pretty good inbounds skiing to disturbingly-familiar, just-barely-hanging-on ribbons of coverage (more…)
Posted in Current Conditions | 6 Comments
Summit Opens
Skis touch snow once again and I say AAHHH it feels good. Opening day 2014: once again I am in awe of Snow Summit’s snowmaking capability. We drove past an utterly bare Snow Valley (my 5-year-old called it “dead”) and I began to worry, but Summit with its higher base elevation and its bountiful lake water had created a fully-covered top-to-bottom Miracle Mile for us (more…)
Posted in Current Conditions | 2 Comments
Backcountry Skiing Returns…
Dan Mingori & Nate Greenberg have just released the 2nd edition of their backcountry skiing guidebook, ‘Backcountry Skiing California’s Eastern Sierra,’ and it is a substantial update. You can read my review of their original 2008 edition here; the 2014 release happily keeps all the original material (with minor tweaks), and adds coverage of (more…)
Posted in Books | 2 Comments
Black Diamond Carbon Convert
If you ask me, Black Diamond has been victimized, to an extent, by the very same perfect powder that makes Utah skiing so famous. Skis tuned to perform in that incomparable Wasatch snow just don’t tend to translate as well in other, less amenable climates. For that reason, reviewing Black Diamond skis always makes me anxious. They’re a great ski company, no question…but they just don’t seem (more…)
