Mt. Shasta, CA Conditions Report: 5+ Feet of New Snow, 120% Snowpack Attention skiers and winter enthusiasts; if you’re looking for your snow fix, Mt. Shasta is the place to be! It’s been a wet and wild week here with some of the heaviest precip ever recorded. We finished with almost 10″ of water falling in town and over 5+ feet of new snow above 8,500′ on the Mountain. Our snowpack is close to 120% of normal and the skiing and riding doesn’t get any better! Although the snow levels fluctuated quite a bit, for the most part the precip fell as snow on Mt. Shasta except for Sunday which saw some very soggy skiers […] Conditions Report Guest Author | February 11, 2015 1 Comment
Mt. Shasta, CA Backcountry Report: 3+ Feet of New Snow Wow, what a storm! Over 3 feet of new snow fell on Mt. Shasta and town at 3,600′ shattered the rainfall record with 4.87″ measured on Friday. The old record of 2.87″ was set in 1908. And there is more on the way. The snowfall on the mountain was extreme and coming in sheets, the tracks would refill in a matter of minutes. It’s always quite a thrill to experience the ferocity of a Mt. Shasta winter storm and this one didn’t disappoint. This is fantastic news on every level, a good boost to our snowpack and reservoirs is just what we need in the Golden State. The […] Conditions Report Guest Author | February 8, 2015 0 Comments
Kicking Horse Update: Nipple Deep Kicking Horse Mountain Resort has powder. ‘Nough said. During a week that has seen a pineapple express decimate ski hills all over BC and Washington, you don’t have to say much to sell a resort. The fact that we are skiing makes KHMR a destination. I don’t even need to bring up the 40cm we’ve had in the last 24hrs, but because my parents told me to share, I will. February 6th and 7th have been the deepest days of the year and they’ve come just when people had lost hope in the winter. To start, there is a definite freezing level sitting at the top of Catamount […] Conditions Report Guest Author | February 7, 2015 1 Comment
Alaska Backcountry Report: Kickstep Mountain Sunday was a day that started out as a question mark, but in the end, it lined up perfectly. The question mark was the weather, forecast to be cold and breezy. Cold enough that a wrong turn, avalanche, or crevasse incident could mean hypothermia. We set our sights on a smaller objective: the Library via Tincan Proper. Driving south from Anchorage, the thermometer rose from 0 to 15, and passing Portage, even the gap winds that should have been roaring were calm. I was getting excited. […] Conditions Report Guest Author | January 28, 2015 0 Comments
Travel Tips: How To Go Back to the Bay Driving home from a local resort the other day – a holiday Sunday – I felt pangs of sympathy for my fellow skiers and snowboarders in their cars. I only had a 10 minute drive home, but most of them had 3+ hours of interstate between them and their homes in SanWalnutCreekJoseMarinPalo AltoBerkeleyOaklandFrancisco. Cruel, cruel fate. I warmed myself with the knowledge that they all assuredly had multiple episodes of Serial synched to their Bluetooth-enabled Lexus, but I knew that that could only get them so far. I vowed at that moment to use my local knowledge and this media pulpit to help my fellow man and woman […] Guest Author | January 28, 2015 17 Comments
Surprise! Blower Pow Day at Kicking Horse, B.C. Sunday, January 18th was a classic day at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Only a few centimeters is predicted. You wake up and check the snow report; 1cm. Disappointed, you look outside and see nearly 20cm on your car. Surprise! Pow Day! This is what happen when a storm rolls in at 6am and drops a load after all the snow reports have gone out. To top it all off, no fair weather skiers show up and the lifts are empty. Despite being caught off guard and showing up an hour after the lifts crack, first tracks could be had line after line. North facing chutes were skiing a touch deeper than the south because of wind deposits. […] Conditions Report Guest Author | January 19, 2015 0 Comments
Chamonix Conditions Report: Powder Returns! The season has been off to a pretty slow start in Chamonix, but things are starting to look up. A couple small systems over the last few days have each left 10-15cm of fresh snow and refreshed surfaces nicely. The sun came out Monday and the winds died down letting us get out and explore away from the lifts, reminding everyone how magical this valley is. Monday morning, the Aiguilles Rouges on the North West side of the valley were loaded with groups heading out to get some fresh turns before things warmed up ahead of the next small system, and brutal winds kicked in. […] Conditions Report Guest Author | January 14, 2015 0 Comments
Steep As It Gets: Learn to Ski Steep at a Clinic Near You You are peering over the edge, staring into the jaws of a 45 degree couloir, thinking, is this over my head? Is this a smart thing to be doing? Do I belong here? Can I ski this? We’ve all been in a similar situation. Filled with doubt, wondering if the terrain we were about to ski into was just a little bit over our head. Most of the time we’re all right and all of the worrying was about nothing. You skied it. Sure. Did you feel comfortable or confident about what you did? How can you push things safely to the next step? Guest Author | January 10, 2015 0 Comments
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