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SierraDescents | 2008

How to Melt Snow for Water

How to Melt Snow for Water

With oppressive temps currently baking Southern California, I thought I'd escape for a moment by listing a few tips on melting snow for water that I've learned these past few (more)

Pine Sap Party

Pine Sap Party

Climbing Mount Williamson via Bairs Creek leaves you with a lot more than memories (and scratches): you also get gummed up with quite a bit of pine pitch. It gets on your (more)

Williamson Still Hard

Williamson Still Hard

This just in: Climbing Mt. Williamson is still Hard. Really Hard. SierraDescents personally verified this yesterday, with an ascent and ski of the south-facing couloir between Mt. (more)

Female Athletes and ACL Tears

Female Athletes and ACL Tears

The New York Times is running an article on the epidemic of ACL tears and other injuries in U.S. female athletes. Female participation in sports in this country is exploding, (more)

Birch Mountain Marathon

Birch Mountain Marathon

Saturday I skied Birch Mountain with a group of skiers from the Angeles Sierra Club's ski mountaineer's section. I don't get the opportunity to ski in groups that often, thanks (more)

Update: Quantum Love Affair Continues

Climbing Telegraph Peak - 300x300 placeholder

Just made a few quick edits to my Black Diamond Quantum review. I've now had the pleasure of using both 45 and 55-liter versions of the Quantum. I like the extra volume of the (more)

Williamson: Notes from the Field

Williamson: Notes from the Field

Today's Notes from the Field come courtesy of my friend Bill, whose adventures on Mount Williamson served as an early inspiration to me on my own quest to ski California's (more)

Nalgene Phases Out Lexan

Nalgene Phases Out Lexan

Nalgene has just announced the phase-out of BPA-containing bottles from its product lineup, including all polycarbonate (Lexan) water bottles. Any way you put it, this is a (more)

Tandem Skiing

Tandem Skiing

Flagstaff had a great ski season this year, though, like California, the traditionally-big March ended up high and dry. Still, there's enough snow to ski on the mountain right (more)

Lone Pine Peak – East Couloir

Climbing Telegraph Peak - 300x300 placeholder

Sometimes as a writer you just don't know how much information to give. It would be easy to present this as a dashing adventure in which I fearlessly charged into the unknown and (more)

Whitney Portal Road: ‘Closed’ vs. Closed

Whitney Portal Road: ‘Closed’ vs. Closed

Well, I drove up to Lone Pine yesterday with big plans for some climbing and skiing in the Whitney Portal region, only to discover the road, which is normally "closed" for winter (more)

Mt. Baldy – North Face

Mt. Baldy - North Face

After scouting Mount Baldy's north face from Mount Waterman last week, I thought I'd hike up for a ski attempt this weekend. There was no question there would be snow—lots (more)

Route 2 – Mt. Waterman Report

Route 2 - Mt. Waterman Report

But is there snow? That was the question, so I packed up the skis and the boy and hit the road. Figuring I'd try to find snow a little closer to home, I drove up Route 2 from La (more)

Skiing Palmyra Peak

Skiing Palmyra Peak

I am standing on Palmyra Peak's summit ridge with two Telluride ski patrollers, and they seem every bit as amazed as I am to be here. From our perch at 13,150 feet, we can see (more)

Mountain High Avalanches – Incident Report

Mountain High Avalanches - Incident Report

This morning, I spoke with Jeff Pierce, who was the Site Commander for two of the three avalanches that took place in the vicinity of Mountain High ski area on 25 January 2008 in (more)

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