Sierra Spring Ski Tour

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We managed to slip in a 5 day tour between snowfall and rain. A high tour out to the end of the Glacier Divide; nice snow and fine views. High runoff thundered down Piute Creek and was flooding McClure Meadow.
Roland Knapp high in the Glacier Divide, Kings Canyon National Park

Thin snow conditions

North side, Pavilion Dome, John Muir Wilderness

Evening, Mt Humpherys, John Muir Wilderness

Sierra Spring

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The road is longer and rockier than I recall. Truck stalled in drift. Deer rise from evening bed. Morning sun on spring snow. Musky scent of damp sage and thawing meadow. No partner, no camera. Snow is punchy in the trees, shallow freeze.
Is this the correct couloir? So short from below. Nice people kicked steps for the old man; yesterday? Shadows bend, arcing sun, snow softens. Ice clinging to rock, nocturnal, falling, smashing, thousand of&nbs [...]

Sierra Spring skiing

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Excellent skiing continues this spring in the Sierra backcountry.

More snow surveys

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We have just returned from skiing and measuring snow (in that order) over Kearsarge Pass in Sequoia National Park. The snow courses at Bullfrog and Charlotte Lake are both around 100% for the season.
Skiing was quite good with corn on the south aspects and powder on the north. Great coverage.

Whitney area ski

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We spent the last 12 days of February doing snow surveys for the headwaters of the Kern River. Snow pack was pretty good with 80 to 100% of the yearly water content. We still could use a few good storms in March to bring the entire pack to normal for the year.

Ann Klinefelter at Cottonwood Pass, Golden Trout Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, CA

Ann Klinefelter skii [...]

Sierra Snow Survey

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I spent the last ten days in the Sierra backcountry measuring snow for the California State cooperative snow surveys. We did courses in Humphreys Basin (Paiute Pass), Dusy Basin (Bishop Pass), Bullfrog Lake (Kearsarge Pass) and Virginia Lakes. The snow, though light this year, skiing was really quite good with adequate coverage.

Ann Klinefelter and Pat Armstrong, de-skining at Kearsarge Pass. A bit of a blustery day but wonderful down skiing. Sequoia Kings Canyon Nation [...]

Backcountry Skiing in the Alps

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Well, I can't say that the backcountry skiing in the Sierra has been anything to write about so far this winter. So, lets take a look at skiing the Alps.
Last spring I had the opportunity to ski in the Swiss, Austrian and Italian Alps as a guest of Janine and Dan Patitucci. We did a couple of short trips in the Dolomites, then a week in the Stubaitol and another in the Silveretta. Typical day. It snowed 17 of 21 days Italian uptrack, Magerstein And we st [...]

Blog entries tagged 'Skiing'

Sierra Spring Ski Tour

Sierra Spring

Sierra Spring skiing

More snow surveys

Whitney area ski

Sierra Snow Survey

Backcountry Skiing in the Alps