Twenty Years of SierraDescents
On November 11, 2005, I hit the "publish" button for the very first time and sierradescents.com went live, beginning what would become an ongoing project of sharing and discovery.
Unofficially, SierraDescents began that prior winter, when I skied my first "real" Sierra descent—Matterhorn Peak, with the intention of putting it online in some sort of words-and-photography format.
It's definitely been a learn-as-you-go adventure.
The excellent but perhaps now-misleading SD logo was created by my good friend Robert Kieffer, who I think perfectly captured the unruliness of my once-full head of hair. I haven't had the heart to update it.
Many dear things have passed over those two decades, but a much larger field of wonders has come into being, including my two children, successful ski descents of Iron, Muir, Lukens, and many more, and SD's odd but endearing place in the greater skiing and mountaineering community.
Thank you to all of you who've been a part of it—some, I know, from the very start. Initially I was focused on the mountains, but over the years, I've come to realize it's the people who travel through them that make this site special.
That said, our mountains are pretty damn special, too. I feel very blessed to be able to share them with you ❤️
— November 18, 2025
Andy Lewicky is the author and creator of SierraDescents
Dan Conger November 18, 2025 at 9:53 am
So glad I discovered this site many years ago. I'll continue to vicariously share in your many adventures. I, too, have far less hair than I did when I first discovered your site ... LOL
Mark Jiroch November 18, 2025 at 2:09 pm
Congratulations on twenty years of SD and thank you for all the great posts along the way. You've absolutely been an inspiration for me to get out there!
Joseph J Gregory November 18, 2025 at 2:49 pm
Congrats on two decades! I think I first found SD in 2009. I've been checking in regularly ever since.
Cheers!
Matt Aronson November 20, 2025 at 7:43 am
I continue loving what you share, keep gettin' after it!!!
Bradley Brown November 21, 2025 at 4:31 pm
It was probably 6-7 years after SD started when I was looking up some obscure ski term and found it in a sort glossary you had. Cool. Wait, there’s more. Yeah a lot more! I knew about summer fun in the hills but didn’t realize what community of winter adventurers there were as well. I’ve started Sierra Ascents (JK, my mountain adventures) in 1971 but had a long layoff bc family/ career. But reading your TR’s inspired and I started getting back to it at age 63. I climber Muir last season to now have 3 of the Ca 14’s, plus all the marquee So Cal peaks with 18 summits the San Gabriel’s alone-including Iron, plus C2C. And that’s with a 2 year lull due to my cancer and late wife passing leading to failed attempts on 2 others. You’ve had some amazing adventures and reprints of same certainly put me back on the path I was always on. Thank you so much and congrats on 2 decades of your amazing site!
Jamie Merkler February 11, 2026 at 11:12 am
I discovered ski mountaineering and Sierra Descents in 2020 after a winter in the Alps, and the subsequent shutdown of lift operations due to COVID. I had been hiking and climbing in the Sierra for a decade already, but the chronicles of your descents on this website changed my outlook on skiing, my home range(s), and gave me an appreciation for the ascent. I've learned so much since I first read "Mount Muir: The East Buttress," and still have so much more to learn, but I am so grateful for the work you've put in cataloging your journeys. I've had some fun tours since founding SD–in the Sierra, San Gabriel, and elsewhere–but potentially my favorite was in San Diego County, down Cuyamaca Peak in 2022/23. I'm leaving California soon, and likely wouldn't have the memory of skiing within this county had it not been for my stumbling upon your blog.
Thanks Andy.