SierraDescents | 2006
July 29, 2006
Hiking San Jacinto Peak
Of the view atop Southern California's San Jacinto Peak, elevation 10,804', John Muir reportedly said, 'it is the most sublime spectacle to behold upon this Earth.' Having (more)
July 10, 2006
Avalanche Gulch Trip Report
I've saved the best for last: a summit ski descent of Mount Shasta via Avalanche Gulch. Despite the route's poor reputation (for snow quality and crowds), this trip easily ranks (more)
June 15, 2006
Shasta Windstorm
The weather looked promising...and then came the wind. Huge contrails of snow curled overhead like giant fingers reaching out over Avalanche Gulch. The sound of it was like a (more)
May 19, 2006
Langley – Skiing the Northeast Couloir
Mount Langley, California — sunlight breaks through swirling clouds, revealing a giant, winding couloir that drop past spires and buttresses to the Tuttle Creek Drainage, 3500 (more)
May 15, 2006
Skiing Williamson’s Bairs Creek Cirque
Well, I've tried my best to explain what climbing Williamson was like. This was an especially difficult Trip Report to write, because I had so much to say, and because so little (more)
May 7, 2006
Mountaineering Terms
Did you know SierraDescents.com has a glossary? Neither did I. Okay, I may have forgotten. I started a glossary in the Basecamp section when I first began working on this site, (more)
April 18, 2006
Snowy Thoughts
What good is a record-setting snowpack if you can't ski it? That's the question some Sierra skiers may be asking, especially after yesterday's in-bounds avalanche at Mammoth (more)
April 5, 2006
Skiing Stockton Flats
Stockton Flats is not the benign glade it appears to be on the trail map. I strongly discourage anyone from entering the region unless they've studied a topo map, are prepared to (more)
April 5, 2006
Say It Isn’t So
Multiple sources are reporting Doug Coombs has been killed while skiing in La Grave, France. Coombs apparently slipped and fell while trying to aid a friend who had just fallen (more)
March 22, 2006
National Geographic Returns to Chernobyl
If you've found the Ghost Town/Kid of Speed entry on my links page, you may have guessed I'm fascinated with Chernobyl, site of the world's worst nuclear accident. In the April (more)
March 11, 2006
Flirting with the Girly Man
A very chilly storm is working its way down California, with reports of snow falling in the metro Bay Area and Kirkwood skiers claiming the 'best snow ever'. Down South, Mount (more)
March 7, 2006
Sue Burak: ‘Nervous’
If you haven't been following Avy forecaster Sue Burak's updates on the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center website, now might be a good time to pay attention. The Sierra has been (more)
March 5, 2006
A Mammoth Blizzard
Snow, snow, and more snow. It was one of those days at Mammoth where you needed a shovel to dig yourself out. Friday the snow was coming down so hard the air could actually (more)
February 28, 2006
Okay, it Rained—a Lot
Word from Mount Baldy is that the ski area received a staggering 8-10 inches of rain. A little colder, and that one storm could have turned the season around down here in the San (more)
February 19, 2006
Tuttle Creek Shakedown
I've been trying to think of a good motto for this website, and one of my ideas, which seems especially apt right now, is "We make the mistakes so you don't have to." My trip (more)
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