Hooray—sort of. It’s probably not news to you by now, but Tioga Pass Road has opened for the 2010 season as of 8 a.m. Saturday. Bummer of course is that this year’s opening coincides with psycho high temperatures in the mountains. The forecast I watch was calling for a high of 61 today at the 12K level in Palisades. Obviously, Dana Plateau and lower is probably cooking today. If you do get up there this weekend, get it early. And let me know how it goes.

It feels like the SoCal ski season just got a last-minute governor’s reprieve. As of Saturday morning, this series of storms has left a reported 36″ of new snow at Mt. Baldy Ski resort, 18-24″ at Mountain High, and 10″ in the Southern Sierra. Be aware that much of this snow fell on bare ground or bare ice, and a lot fell in a short span of time, making backcountry travel potentially hazardous this weekend until the snowpack has had time to settle. If you can’t abide resort skiing, choose conservative low-angle terrain and assess conditions constantly.

This snow is going to be with us for a while now, so there’s no rush. Be safe!

Well, while I’ve been wallowing in despair over the lack of snow in the local mountains, some of you have apparently been going out and skiing, which is admittedly overall a better way to spend your time.

SoCal skier Brad H. was kind enough to send in a photo of Jepson Peak, in the San Bernardino Mountains, from this past weekend. Where did all that snow come from? Last I heard, Jepson was just a big ice playground. According to Brad things became bulletproof in the couloir as soon as the sun went behind the ridge, but the coverage was good, and the snow softened nicely in the flats.

Most importantly: it’s snow! I sometimes forget that there’s another range past the San Gabriels. And the San Bernardino Mountains are about 1500′ higher as well, which means a rain event in the Gabriels can easily produce snow above 10,000′ in the San Bernardinos. So, it’s out there, if you know where to find it…but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for more storms.

A solid 24 hours of rain in the basin have produced…absolutely nothing in the local mountains. That looks to be the case after browsing the sites of Mount Baldy, Mountain High, and Snow Summit ski resorts. Why no snow? We didn’t even bother to turn on our heater during this storm. Temperatures were unnaturally warm, offering nothing but rain in the mountains until 9000 feet or higher.

Of course there’s always Mammoth to rely on, reporting 11 new inches of snow this morning and no doubt a very nasty drive, as temperatures are starting to drop with a new round of storms coming. Snow levels should edge down below 5000′ in Owens Valley. Good news on this storm cycle is that the early, dense wet component is likely to build up a nice stable base for future accumulations. As always, avoid the backcountry during and immediately after storms, and pay close attention to ESAC’s avalanche forecasts.

What’s this? A ski report on SierraDescents? Stop the Presses! Why, I didn’t even know they did skiing on this site! I thought they just talked about sniffing tea cups and losing money in the stock market…Yes indeed, it’s a real-live December ski report, in which I managed to get myself to the mountains and back without sustaining any recovery-harming setbacks. Victory on all fronts!

At Vincent Gap

Baden-Powell’s East Face

Skinning Up

Earning It

Skiing

A Few Good Turns

Friend Bill and I drove up Highway 2 from Wrightwood to Vincent Gap for a little Baden-Powell action today. BP is one of those curious Southland Peaks that occasionally allows drive-up-to-snow backcountry skiing access, provided the road is open past Mountain High—and provided you arrive early enough to beat the traffic up to the ski area, which can be full-on SoCal nutty.

With the proximity of the recent storms, I was expecting good snow. Well, that didn’t exactly happen. Seems some combination of rain, high winds, and ultra cold temps has produced one cranky snowpack, complete with rain crust, surface hoar, and hidden ice glazes. Sheesh! This wasn’t exactly the easy cruise I was hoping for, bad back and all, but it sure felt good to get on snow after the very discouraging start to the ski season that I got four weeks ago in the doctor’s office.

We found it extremely difficult to skin up: the crust was too icy to set an edge without ski crampons (both of us were without), and it was dusted with a very sugary thin coating of snow that only added to the frustrations. Take off the skis to climb on foot, and we punched right through the thin crust, into 3-4′ of unconsolidated powder that truly gave meaning to the phrase “earning it.”

Bill and I got about 1800′ vertical up before we finally decided to call it a day. The climbing was brutal. Skiing down offered a few good turns, but all that icy-crusty action made things challenging, especially as I was trying to avoid doing anything foolish to my back. Still, just getting out there and getting my boots wet was very encouraging. Actually, what’s hardest for me right now is driving, and putting on my socks and boots. Keep me upright and locked in, and I’m good to go.

I did take a few minutes to dig a very cursory snowpit at the apex of our climb, on what would be a due-north aspect around 8200′. The upper layer was a solid crust on top of 4 feet of cold, sugary snow. I kept my eyes out for thicker slabs but didn’t see any. That said, we never saw any of the wind-affected parts of Baden-Powell, where things could be completely different. If a heavy accumulation arrived in the next few days, I would expect very unstable conditions on top of that icy, hoar-dusted crust—plus there is not much support underneath. All in all, I suppose these are fairly typical observations for a December snowpack in the Southland.

Another concern, I’m sorry to say, is going to be ice. Conditions are already slick enough to make exposed areas dangerous in the backcountry. You may recall last season’s ice persisted for months, rendering whole aspects unskiable in certain parts of the range (ie, Ontario Peak). I sure hope we don’t see a repeat this season. That’s it for now. If you do venture out into the San Gabriels, watch out for that ice and be especially cautious if new snow arrives before the snowpack settles.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you! Looks like we’ll be enjoying a white Christmas in the mountains this year. Heavy snows (18-36″) are forecast in the High Sierra, plus a very nice 2-3′ on the way in the San Gabriels. That’s going to be more than enough snow to open up most of our favorite terrain from North to South.

Please remember that in addition to getting gifts, we also get avalanches this time of year.

Expect a very tricky snowpack in all backcountry locations over the next few days. I think that makes this an excellent time to use your off days to ski in-bounds. Sierra backcountry skiers should pay close attention to the ESAC updates this week. Southland skiers have no such resource, but we can *usually* count on things beginning to stabilize 48-72hrs after the last of the snow and wind has subsided (provided temps & humidity return to normal). Stay safe!

Well, it’s been raining all day in the Basin, and our dubiously-accurate patio thermometer is now reading a very frosty 37° as of 5:33 p.m. Pacific (official West L.A. temp at Santa Monica Airport is 45°).

All this cold rain is translating directly into snow in the High Country. Mount Baldy Ski Area now reports a 2-3′ base with chair 1 open all the way down to the parking lot, and snow to the Village. Not bad for one storm!

Now is the time when I’d be planning a quick getaway to the San Gabriels to sample conditions first-hand, but instead I’m going to do my best to behave and stay home. So, if anyone out there wants to send in a report on local ski conditions, feel free to either email or post comments below. Please be sure to stress how poor conditions are, ie, ruined expensive boards on rocks, snow was windcrusted and crappy, got turned back by chain restrictions/mudslides/etc. Enclose photo only if shows self grimacing in disgust.

All right…I’m going to get back to my back exercises. Grrr.

Here’s a look at the sunrise from near our home this morning: that’s a lot of smoke.

The Yorba Linda/Anaheim area fires are about sixty miles east of us, which gives a sense of just how smoky the Los Angeles Basin is this morning.

And, when I turn and look to the west, the sky is considerably smoky from the Santa Barbara fires northwest of us.

What a mess!

More storm news from the Eastern Sierra. Looks like last year’s fires were a factor in this. The mudslide occurred over fire-blackened land.

Sounds like it was a wild weekend in the Whitney Portal region, with heavy storms closing the portal road (due to mudslides) and even Highway 395 (which remains closed at Independence – detour available).

Posters on the Whitney Portal Store Forums have a thread going which talks about the conditions. Sounds like a lot of people got blasted by intense thunderstorms. If you’re planning a Whitney climb this week, be sure to check the board for current conditions. And if you see thunderstorms developing rapidly, get off the ridgelines and head for safer ground.