SierraDescents | Category | Current Conditions
October 22, 2021
In All Things: Extremes
The first major winter storm is upon us, and it looks to be a doozy. While expected to come in warm at first, some forecast models are predicting as much as 100 inches of snow in (more)
August 21, 2021
The Smoke Season
In summer we used to worry about thunderstorms and permits. Now we worry about smoke. Climate change is transforming the Sierra hiking and climbing season into a dystopia of (more)
April 18, 2021
Closing Day
Snow Valley spun its lifts for the last time for the 2020-2021 season today, making them (by a week) the longest-running SoCal resort this winter. Has that ever happened (more)
June 15, 2020
Is Throop Still Going?
For those of you who built the kicker at the bottom of the last snowfield on Throop Peak and were still hitting it as of yesterday...I salute you. (more)
April 27, 2020
Baldy’s North Face
Here's Mount Baldy's north face, as seen from near the summit of Throop Peak off Highway 2 yesterday. By the standards of today, there is still a lot of snow out there, though (more)
March 28, 2020
Los Angeles With Clean Air
Thanks to our continued unsettled weather and our unprecedented statewide sequestration, Los Angeles is currently enjoying air quality perhaps never before seen in its modern (more)
February 13, 2020
Sierra Snowpack Update
We were off to such a good start this winter, but the storm spigot closed essentially at the end of December, and a month and a half of dry weather has now taken its (more)
January 27, 2020
Snow Valley Sunday
Sunday at Snow Valley was a handsome day, starting out mostly cloudy and then finishing off with a nice burst of sunshine in the afternoon. Coverage on the hill is thinning but (more)
December 29, 2019
San Jacinto Grind
A truism of Southern California is you don't get good SoCal skiing unless you risk getting bad SoCal skiing. We got the bad version yesterday, which began with stunning lines at (more)
November 30, 2019
November Snow
I tried I tried I tried to get some classic L.A. skyline-and-snow shots, but the clouds have just not been cooperating. There is snow out there, obviously, and a lot of (more)
November 26, 2019
November
These high-resolution GOES-17 images are stunning. Here's your surprise Thanksgiving bomb cyclone, currently sitting off the coast of Oregon today, November 26, 2019. Given (more)
October 31, 2019
Happy Halloween
For Southern California, winds are expected to resolve by Sunday, as a blocking high sets up which should keep us calm into mid-November—though unfortunately that will keep us (more)
May 28, 2019
Winter Up High, Summer Down Low
This was by far the snowiest Memorial Day weekend I've ever skied at Mammoth Mountain. It looked and felt like winter up there, and for good reason: Mammoth set an all-time (more)
April 3, 2019
Baldy Bowl Sunday
Here's Baldy Bowl Sunday, looking very tasty if a little bit burnt for the last day of March 2019. Temperatures may be warmer, but for now sun angle reigns supreme: we found good (more)
March 18, 2019
Baden Powell From Inspiration Point
Here's Baden-Powell from Inspiration Point just past Mountain High on California Highway 2. BP's east face looked terrific yesterday up high, but coverage drops dramatically even (more)
