Squaw Valley Weekend Report: 1st Sneaker Powder Day of the Year? I love a good sneaker pow day. Sometimes it’s raining at the base, sometimes the snow is slushy and wet, sometimes the wind is so strong it scours whole faces—but a sneaker pow day is all the more enjoyable because it’s unexpected. Most people stay home. Conditions seem sub-optimal. But the actual skiing? It ends up being holy-f***-fun. That didn’t happen today. It started snowing in the valley last night around 1am and by morning there were accumulations of about 1-3 inches of slushy snow on the ground. That slushy snow quickly melted as it began to rain. The rain […] Conditions Report Guest Author | November 30, 2014 1 Comment
Mammoth Early Season Update & Photo Tour Mammoth mountain opened for the 2014-15 season on Nov 13th. At the time of this report, the snow conditions were hard packed and mainly a 14-18″ base of man made snow with some minimal bare spots on the main runs. Overnight temperatures were cool enough for snow making, so the snow guns were hard at work through the night. […] Conditions Report Guest Author | November 24, 2014 0 Comments
Chamonix, France Comes Alive With Great Skiing This Past Week The last few weeks have seen unsettled weather and a good amount of precipitation throughout the Alps, leaving the higher elevations in very good shape for the middle of November. Like any other ski town throughout the world, the locals in Chamonix have been jonesing to get out and make their first turns of the year. The sun finally made an appearance on Wednesday and offered a chance to get up into the high alpine above Chamonix and sample some of the fresh snow. From the small village of Le Tour, we made our way up the left flank of the Glacier du Tour to the Albert hut, at 2700 […] Conditions Report Guest Author | November 23, 2014 0 Comments
65″ of Lake-Effect Snow in New York Yesterday! | Photo Tour & Eyewitness Account: (editor’s note: this is an eye witness account from my brother who’s a badass truck driver and Afghanistan war veteran out of Ohio. He was in the big storm in New York that dropped up to 63″ of snow yesterday and this is his account.) Well, last night at about 1730-1800 I noticed a change of color on the road. The road changed from black to whitish, and I couldn’t tell wether it had dried or it was snow, and snow was falling but not quick. At that time I cut my jake break (air brakes on a semi truck) off, because you don’t want to be using that in slippery conditions. […] Featured Article Guest Author | November 19, 2014 1 Comment
Water Dog Bike Park | Photo Tour There is nothing better than a ride after it rains. Its cool out and the dirt is perfect. But what if you can’t go far from the city? Water Dog Park, in Belmont California, is about a 30 minute drive south of San Francisco. This park is filled with greenery and breathtaking views. You can drive right through the city of Belmont into the parking lot. From there, you can see two valleys and houses above the park. This gives a cool perspective of how the park is truly close to city life. […] Biking Guest Author | November 11, 2014 3 Comments
Biggest Snowfall of the Year in Patagonia Yesterday! Winter ended a few weeks ago down here in South America. We started chilling on the beach and even took our first dip in the lake. We waxed our boards to put them away till next year and switched our minds to summer time. But then all of a sudden a big snow storm came from nowhere! It snowed for a week non-stop. So we decided to take our boards out again and go up the mountain to an awesome and wild place called Mallin Alto. It snowed way more than we’d imagined! And it actually was the biggest snow fall we had this winter. Even the snowmobiles got stuck […] Guest Author | November 7, 2014 1 Comment
Italian Alps Backcountry Conditions Report: 50cms Fresh Snow on Passo della Stelvio After a start to the autumn characterized by unusual warmth, with low snowfall across Alpine ski mountains, the first real precipitation dropped 50cm of snow, mainly in South Tyrol, in the Ortler Alps in Alto Adige (Italy) last week. The winter scenery and the good whether conditions have prompted me to take a tour in the area of Madaccio glacier. The climb, at sunrise from Passo dello Stelvio to Punta degli Spiriti, then down for the long slope to glacier of Madaccio, dominated by Tuckettspitze, skiing on the first powder […] Conditions Report Guest Author | October 27, 2014 0 Comments
Arizona Trail Conditions Report: Red Pow in Sedona The Flagstaff/Sedona trip was an afterthought. A half hour prior to leaving Vegas for Moab I got a text from a friend who was struggling to find a camp site saying “Don’t come, this place is a zoo.” Fall recess in the Utah schools corresponding with a half marathon made Moab the kind of busy that rivals Easter jeep week (albeit, less wife beaters, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and bud light.) So we left Vegas and headed eastbound instead. Scoring a tent sight just outside of Flagstaff we headed into town looking for a bit of food and some craft brew. We ended up […] Conditions Report Guest Author | October 24, 2014 0 Comments