9500 to 1500

Was it really only two weeks ago that I was climbing in heavy rain on the ski hut trail? Snow levels have dropped from an awful 9500′ to near-record 1500′ in Southern California, putting snow where you don’t often see it, and causing travel havoc, including closing the 5 and 15 freeways.

It’s enough to make you think that SoCal weather is dynamic after all. In case you’re wondering, Mt. Hollywood above Griffith Park Observatory is 1602′, Sandstone Peak in the Santa Monica Mountains is 3111′, and the highest point in the Verdugo Mountains above Burbank is 3125′. So grab the skis (or at least a camera) and get out there.

Posted in Current Conditions | 8 Comments

A White Christmas

Clear skies and snowy peaks is the Christmas Day forecast here in the Southland. Expect impressive coverage above 9000 feet or so, and ice forests around the snow line. Here’s a shot of current conditions on West Baldy’s face, rising high above downtown—the classic postcard view from Kenneth Hahn State Park. Merry Christmas everyone!

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Ma Nature Goes Insane

LA Times has a story on how Mother Nature has fooled the forecasters this season. It’s a nice rundown on some of the crazy ups and downs of the end of 2010 in SoCal, including a high temperature of 113° on Sept. 27, a heat wave just a week ago, and of course the Mother of All Storms that is currently upon us.

Right now at my house, heavy rain appears to be starting up once again. Apparently the most intense part of the current storm cycle is supposed to be arriving now. Could the past few days really have been only prologue? Mammoth skiers are probably going to need to go into detox when this is all said and done. Looking at the local mountains, I see the snow level has finally dropped to more respectable 7K or so. Mountain and Basin travel is likely to be abominable the next two days, so be safe out there.

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A Four Hour (Cold) Shower

There are only so many days in a row I can watch heavy rain pound the pavement outside my apartment. But that stubborn snow level refused to come down. Finally, on Sunday, I decided to take the initiative and go find some snow. I drove up to the parking lot at Manker Flat (or, at least, I tried to), parked my car, and started hiking up the Ski Hut Trail.

My hope was to hike to the ridge above the Ski Hut, set up my loaner Brooks Rocket Tent, and then get the heck outta there. I didn’t even make it to the hut.

I would describe the experience as much akin to hiking for four hours in your shower, water running cold, while simultaneously standing in a rushing creek. The hike utterly exposed the weaknesses in my rain gear, which failed miserably. I got soaked from mid-chest down, arms, hands, and feet included. Pools of water collected in my gloves and boots.

As I neared the hut, I could tell that the rain was about to change to snow—but it was still rain. Heavy rain. With wind gusts topping 60mph or higher, and my entire body dripping wet, I realized I was flirting with a whole lot of trouble. I spun around and walked back down. Glad I turned around when I did. I was freezing by the time I reached the car.

Mount Baldy Road was partially blocked by a flash flood just below Maker Flat. Here’s a short (10MB) video of what it looked like: Mt. Baldy Road Flooding.

Posted in Current Conditions | 6 Comments

Two Front Teeth…

In the What I Want for Christmas department, a little snow would certainly be nice. Here’s one of the forecasts I track: San Jacinto Peak. Okay, before you get too excited, notice how low the snowfall totals are, despite what looks like 5-7 days of precip in a row. This is tracking depressingly close to par for a La Nina winter, with the storms kind of skirting the Southland. Better news when you go farther north: North Palisade.

So a Mammoth weekend is probably a good bet—if you can stand the drive and associated risks.

UPDATE: Okay, precip totals for the Southland are looking a lot better now, with heavy snow forecast for the mts on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the snow level is currently hovering around 9000′, so local resorts are pretty much hosed. Observation: high snow levels (ie, warm storms) are not what we expect in a La Nina year…

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Snow

Mammoth reports 3-7 feet of snow, with nearly 2′ of new snow in the past 24 hours. Locally, the last few storms have opened up Mountain High and Snow Summit, though on pretty minimal bases. I’m off for the holiday, so have a Happy Thanksgiving, and get out there and find some snow…

Posted in Current Conditions | 9 Comments

October Rain

Heavy rain here in the basin—and relatively cold, also. Is it really only October? I’m getting a crazy impulse to grab my skis and head for the high country. Not sure what’s happening elsewhere in the state, but I bet there’s going to be skiable snow up there somewhere…

Posted in Current Conditions | 4 Comments

TPR Opens

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.

Posted in Current Conditions, Skiing | 7 Comments

The San Juan Snowpack

Telluride sits in the northern San Juan Mountains—a part of the Rockies notorious for its unstable snowpack. A big, ugly beast of a natural avalanche put an exclamation mark on that this week. Here’s a photo of the slide as seen from Telluride’s Revelation Bowl (more…)

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3 Storms

Just got back last night—drive home from June Lake was very challenging. I’ll be writing quite a bit over the next month about my Avalanche class experience. For now, let me say I’m really glad I did it. Did the class make me an expert on avalanches? Absolutely not. But I did learn a great deal, and just as importantly, I got motivated to keep learning.

Obviously the big news right now in the skiing world is the storm cycle. Whether or not this is a classic El Nino pattern I’ll leave to the experts. Suffice to say I’ve seen potential rainfall totals (for the combined systems) estimated in the 8-20″ range (that’s rain, not snow!), meaning we’re going to be seeing a wide range of impacts, some good, some not so good. Sierra snowfall totals should be in the 6-12 foot range, which is massive. Local mountain snowfall is harder to call, as many areas will see rain mixed with snow, making the totals misleadingly low. Still, Mount Baldy is reporting 7-16″ of new snow this morning.

It should go without saying that only the most experienced winter mountaineers should even consider going out into the backcountry this week, and even they are probably best advised to stay home. Even those thinking about heading to the mountains for inbounds skiing should beware potential road closures, mudslides, bridges destroyed, traffic accidents, etc. Whatever you do, be conservative. As I was reminded just last night, it’s not a good feeling when you know you’re right on the edge of spending an unplanned night in your car (or worse) in a raging blizzard.

Posted in Current Conditions | 12 Comments

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