SierraDescents | Category | Current Conditions
January 27, 2014
Snow Valley: January 2014
AARRRGH!! Really: Aargh! There's no other way to say it. I feel my stubborn side kicking in, and now I'm wondering: who will quit first? Will Snow Valley management throw in (more)
January 21, 2014
Summit: Still Solid
I can't say if Snow Summit is currently offering the best skiing in California, but I can say their snowmaking capability remains unmatched. Where Snow Valley just down the road (more)
December 28, 2013
Downtown Driest Ever
Are we really already in hoping-for-March mode? 2013 isn't even over yet. I was doing okay until I checked the numbers for Mammoth: last year, Mammoth Mountain saw 147" of snow (more)
December 18, 2013
Just Add Snow
Please!!! Was I really driving with the A/C on today, mid-December, at 7000 feet in the San Bernardino Mountains? Alas, yes: NOAA gave the high temperature in Running Springs as (more)
December 1, 2013
Mammoth Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought a little skiing might be nice this holiday weekend. Very thin coverage and only four lifts running (more)
November 24, 2013
November Snow
3-5" of fresh snow is the official word from Mt. Baldy, in the San Gabriel Mountains, but peering through the haze today from Kenneth Hahn State Park, I'd say coverage on Baldy's (more)
September 6, 2013
The Well-Cooked Andy
First of all, I apologize. I knew writing about our record-cool first two weeks of August was just asking for trouble, and I did it anyway, and of course mere days later Los (more)
August 19, 2013
A Very Cool August
I do like to check in on the weather now and then for the archives, and 2103 has been an unusually cool August for us here in the Los Angeles basin. I can't find any hard sources (more)
May 27, 2013
Wahoo Gullies Are Burnt
Here's a view that so struck me I had to jam on my brakes to pull over and take a picture of it: Mount Locke and the Wahoo Gullies, a favorite Bishop-area spring ski descent, (more)
May 13, 2013
White Mountain Is White
Passing Olancha and entering the outskirts of Lone Pine on Highway 395, what should my wondering eyes see but snow—and lots of it—dusting the high peaks. Apparently (more)
May 4, 2013
Mammoth: Electrifying!
It was such a beautiful sunny morning here at Mammoth Mountain California, I was beginning to hope the forecast T-storms would fail to show. Nope: right around 11 a.m. things (more)
April 15, 2013
Mammoth
Thank goodness we have Mammoth! Your Southern Sierra looks an awful lot like summer right now, but atop Mammoth Mountain there's got to be a solid 12 feet or so of snow. With (more)
April 1, 2013
Snow Valley: Done
Given what a rotten winter it's been in the backcountry, it was sure a solid season for me and my kids at Snow Valley...at least until today. The kids and I skied Easter 2012 at (more)
March 28, 2013
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)
March 18, 2013
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)
