Kids
For those of you who have snow in your own backyard, I’m very jealous. Here on vacation in Northern Arizona, I’ve been enjoying the pleasures of cross country skiing, which currently entails no more hassle than me putting on warm clothes and stepping outside—fabulous. Naturally, my kids see me dressing up in my snow pants, (more...)...
Posted in Kids | 1 Comment
Current Conditions
Well, can you believe it’s Christmas 2012? Happily it’s a white one for us this year. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones! Peace. (more...)...
Posted in Current Conditions | 0 Comments
Current Conditions
Took the kids—both of them—to Snow Valley today to check out the conditions and make some turns, with leash and without. I must say coverage looks terrific. Certainly much, much better than anything we saw from early through at least mid-winter last season. So for those of you who were wondering (or fearing) if this (more...)...
Posted in Current Conditions | 0 Comments
Current Conditions
I’m out with my camera today, partly because it’s a beautiful day in Southern California, mostly because it’s easier than sitting at home and reading the news. Here’s downtown Los Angeles with the San Gabriel Mountains and a very snowy Mount San Antonio in the background. For you local resort skiers, Mountain High, Snow Summit, (more...)...
Posted in Current Conditions | 7 Comments
Gear
Think of Mountain Hardwear’s 6.7-ounce Ghost Whisperer as a high-end heat infusion. If you want the best possible warmth-to-weight ratio in an ultralight top, this is it. The insulated Ghost Whisperer pairs 850-fill down with an incredible 7×10 denier nylon—a next-generation fabric developed as part of Mountain Hardwear’s Ueli Steck Project. The fabric’s super-tight weave (more...)...
Posted in Gear | 0 Comments
Tips & Technique
At Mammoth last weekend I had the interesting experience of hearing two exactly opposite bootfitting opinions in two consecutive days at two consecutive ski shops. US bootfitters overwhelmingly tilt toward putting people into the smallest possible boot shell, and that was indeed the gist of Opinion A, best summed up as, “It’s always better to (more...)...
Posted in Tips & Technique | 1 Comment
Current Conditions
Thank goodness we have Mammoth! Yes, Mammoth did see rain all the way up to about McCoy Station during last week’s Mega-Wet, but enough of that moisture fell as snow across the mountain to produce a dense, saturated early-season base that is currently making for excellent skiing. Despite the snow’s high water content, upper mountain (more...)...
Posted in Current Conditions | 0 Comments
Kids
In my teach your kids to ski series from last season, we talked a lot about the process of getting your kids familiar with and interested in skiing, from the philosophical (promoting ski culture) to the practical (gearing up and dry land training). While I can’t stress enough the benefits of these off-the-hill preparations, at (more...)...
Posted in Kids | 1 Comment
Books
Does anyone read books anymore? This is not a rhetorical question—my books section is basically a ghost town nowadays. Still, for those of you who like to hold a bound stack of old paper in your hands for hours at a time, here’s William L. Manly’s Death Valley in ’49, a classic story of pioneer (more...)...
Posted in Books | 0 Comments
Current Conditions
I’m starting to think last season traumatized me. I’ve got this jonesy, pessimistic mindset right now—not helped much by the fact that the big Southern California ranges are currently bare-bones dry at all elevations. Check that: you can find a few sickly snowmaking patches at Mountain High and the Big Bear resorts. NOAA is showing (more...)...
Posted in Current Conditions | 6 CommentsWhen there is snow, SierraDescents is Andy Lewicky's California backcountry skiing and mountaineering website. Without snow, sierradescents becomes an ill-tempered hiking and climbing blog.
Pray for snow.
©2005-2019 SierraDescents
