I’m happy to report I and my boy made it to Marina del Rey last night for the fireworks show. He shouted “boom” every time a big one went off, carrying on the family tradition of loving all things loud and explosive.

Every 4th I always find myself pausing and considering what a remarkable experiment our nation has been. As pessimistic as I get sometimes about the current state of affairs, it’s helpful to remember that our forefathers (and mothers) saw some very dark times of their own, including a war (against the crown) that they really had no chance of winning. But they did win (thank you, GW and France), and their legacy today is a nation where people of all colors and creeds gather peacefully (if a bit drunkenly) to cheer like maniacs as fireworks light up the sky. As Andrew Sullivan says, know hope. And Happy Birthday America!

Photographer Brandon Riza has posted a stunning time-lapse of the Station Fire. It’s definitely worth checking out. We could only see the top half of the smoke cloud from here in West L.A., and even that view was impressive.

Telluride Dust Storm

Red Snow

Well, instead of snow, so far we’re just getting more dust. As the afternoon progressed, the sky grew more and more pink, and the snow started to look as if God had sprinkled cayenne pepper everywhere.

What a mess!

Adding to the atmosphere, today is Telluride’s end-of-season celebration downtown, so a live band is playing while costumed revelers party down.

All that’s missing to complete this surreal image are some radiation-stunted mutants trolling about in the shadows, and Mel Gibson leading a fuel convoy at breakneck speeds down the highway.

It’s hard not to look at this as some sort of bleak preview of future scenes to come. “It looks like a movie,” my Mom said as we rode up the Gondola. “And not a movie I want to see.” (more…)

Chair 9

What a funny trip this has been. I really agonized over whether or not to go, and finally decided at the last minute, thinking I’d enjoy some late-spring skiing.

And then this happens…day after day of fresh snow. More snow overnight. Chair 9 was brilliant this morning: fresh tracks and even a peek of sunshine to put the sparkles on everything.

New snow blew in later today, but this batch was red-tinged, mixed with dust from Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Dust, I’ve discovered, does not make for such great skiing. Runs like you’ve waxed your skis with pine sap. We’re supposed to head home tomorrow, but they’re forecasting a big storm tonight, and if Lizard Head Pass closes, well, I guess we’ll just have to stay and ski another day.

Checking in here from Telluride, Colorado. This was totally a last-minute trip, but opportunity came knocking, so I thought I’d shirk my Sierra responsibilities and head east to the Rockies.

Funny thing: it just never crossed my mind that I’d see anything other than spring skiing over here. Because I was flying, I stripped out all my winter gear to get down to one bag. Ha Ha MF says Old Man Winter.

This morning I was riding up the Village Express in little more than a sweatshirt and a windbreaker with the weather doing a very respectable impersonation of January: temps in the single digits, winds and blowing snow—your basic blizzard scenario. I didn’t even get one run in before I realized I was ridiculously underdressed. Headed straight for the nearest ski shop and no doubt did some good work for the local economy by going on a clothes-buying frenzy.

Cold! Forecast looks like snow all week. I suppose there’s some sort of be-prepared lesson here for mountain travelers, but come on! It’s April! Where’s my slush and sunshine?

Various net sources are reporting that Shane McConkey has died in Italy in a basejumping accident. The Tahoe Daily Tribune has one of the more detailed reports available at present.

McConkey was nothing less than an artist when it came to skiing and big air. He was a pioneer in the high-stakes game of combining skiing and parachuting, and has been featured in numerous ski films, including Steep. There is no question the man pushed the envelope of risk, but his skiing was inspirational, representing a huge evolution of the sport of extreme skiing.

Statistically, McConkey’s death was probably inevitable. Then again, all of our deaths are inevitable, statically or not. McConkey got to experience things most of us only dream about. While the rest of us were bound always by the laws of gravity, McConkey over his remarkable career seemed almost to have been granted some sort of magical exemption. Almost.

McConkey was 38. He leaves behind a wife, Sherry, and a daughter, Ayla. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Shane’s family, and the many friends he leaves behind.

more: TetonAT has this.

A Cold Ride Up

Went up Sunday to ski in-bounds at Mount Baldy. It was one of those kinds of days that only a mother could love: high wind, no visibility, and cold, damp air that coated everything in ice.

As for the skiing, the new snow was scattered in drifts everywhere like washboard ruts, forming a patchy covering over the frozen spring corn beneath. Pretty darn ugly conditions. Luckily, Mount Baldy will sell you a ski-by-the-hour ticket if you ask for it, and after about an hour so of rattling around in the whiteout, I’d had enough. Cashed in my ticket and headed home.

My sense is that this latest storm didn’t do much for the Southland Mountains. Probably only a few inches of snow at most, and most of that blown off to kingdom come. Up north, however, accumulation totals were respectable. Weather is supposed to go back to warm and dry, which should set up some nice skiing later in the week.

If you’re free this Saturday, Mount Baldy’s San Antonio Ski Hut needs your help:

Dear Friend of the San Antonio Ski Hut:

In addition to the Fall Work Party scheduled the weekend of June
7th , we will have a one-day Work Party, Saturday May 30th.

We will meet 10:30 am at the San Antonio Falls Rd. gate, to help
carry supplies.

We will be carrying 2×4′s, 1×6′s, and possibly food/beverage and
other related items up to the Hut. Please come prepared with a large
backpack AND some rope/cord and/or tie downs, strapping, etc.

This will be a BYOB trip. No meals will be provided. Participants
will earn a full-weekends credit towards Host Qualifications.

ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST RSVP

Work party reservations normally fill to capacity within 48-72
hours, so do not delay your RSVP.

We are also still in need of additional participants for the June
7th weekend. Please email me if you would like to attend.

Please reply to this email to RSVP.

· Work Party participants will be required to sign a
release waiver

· Please bring a large backpack, so you may help ferry
supplies. Small backpacks will not cut it.

· No animals allowed at the Work Party. No children this
Work Party.

· Be prepared to carry heavy loads, work hard and eat good.

· We encourage new Hosts. Please bring someone
with you to the work party you think would make a good Host. We will
be qualifying new Hosts via Work Party’s.

· Please bookmark our website. The site
lists current “Host Schedule” contact info, and work party dates.

· Hosts are encouraged to contact Gil Estrada prior to
their scheduled Host weekend, to see if there are any supplies that
might need to be carried up.

· Please conserve firewood.

Reservations will be confirmed by email, with additional
instructions forwarded on an “as needed basis” as the date approaches.

Gil Estrada

Hut Chairman

2206 Silver Tree Rd.

Claremont, Ca. 91711

909-624-8224

offpiste1@aol.com

Well, I’ve made at least one person happy:

Hey, I love the new blog. Especially the last couple of posts about the 50-year storm in the sierras. There’s a sense of immediacy and local-relevance I haven’t seen on your site before. This adds a compelling new dimension to your content.

Thanks for the feedback! You’ve inspired me to update my header to better reflect the new content…

Well, with scheduling snafus making it difficult for me to get back to Shasta, I’m reluctantly shifting toward summer mode, so I thought I’d re-edit one of my few (actually only) summer hiking trip reports: the Langley Loop.

This is a great overnight or long dayhike in the Cottonwood Lakes/Horseshoe Meadows region of the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains, with a stop, of course, atop Mount Langley, California’s southernmost fourteener.