SierraDescents.com

SierraDescents | 2013

Esha Peak

Esha Peak

This was a bit of Sierra serendipity: as I was driving into Mammoth last weekend, I found myself staring at an unknown peak up the McGee Creek drainage. I snapped a photo through (more)

Birch Mountain Benchmark

Birch Mountain Benchmark

I like Birch Mountain as a benchmark for Eastern Sierra snowpack conditions because it's gigantic and because it's readily viewable from Highway 395. Birch's upper face tells us (more)

‘The Turn’

'The Turn'

One of my more esoteric quests is the search for the perfect steep skiing turn. Steep technique turns out to be a fabulously nuanced and dynamic field of study. There are lots (more)

Rossignol Soul 7

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Think of the Soul 7 as the sum of everything Rossignol has learned about making All Mountain/Powder skis over the last five years—and that turns out to be a lot. The Soul 7 (more)

Point of No Return?

Point of No Return?

Well there just hasn't been much news this winter in the current conditions category. For the Southland mountains I'd say we're fast approaching the point of no return (though (more)

The Microchill Jacket

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Mountain Hardwear's Microchill Jacket is much more a midlayer than true outerwear, but however you wear it, the warmth to weight ratio and comfort are excellent. In terms of (more)

Kids: Chasing The Cousins

Kids: Chasing The Cousins

I think my son was four when we first skied with his cousins. At that time, he was very cautious on snow, preferring to follow me at all times rather than lead the way. He kept (more)

Volkl Shiro

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Volkl's Shiro is unquestionably a powder specialist, built to thrill in steep, deep, and preferably expansive Big Mountain terrain. Objectively and subjectively I noticed the (more)

Volkl Katana Carbon

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New for the 2013-2014 season is Volkl's Katana Carbon, a V-Works carbon-fiber version of Volkl's Big-Mountain Katana. What the heck is 'V-Works', you ask? It's a light-is-right (more)

A Telluride Storm

A Telluride Storm

Telluride, Colorado. It wasn't supposed to snow Wednesday night, but it did—nine inches of perfectly light snow on top of nearly three feet of fresh snow that fell earlier (more)

Blizzard Bonafide

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The word is out: Blizzard's Bonafide is one of the best skis on the mountain today, a versatile All Mountain masterpiece that consistently surpasses expectations. With the (more)

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About SierraDescents

When 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.