Conditions Report
Report from June 4th, 2019
This past Saturday, Roger and I skied the Zebra Couloir on 13,100′ Mt. Emerson, CA and saw an inch of snow in 20 minutes at the top of it and had a wildly fun time.
Today, I decided to return to Emerson and ski the North Couloir.
So far this spring, temperatures have been below average and great for skiing and snow.
Today, that all changed.
Aaron Fox, Tall Carl, and I hoped for some cloud cover and cooler than forecast temps and did not get them.
It was hot today.
After hiking and skinning for 3 hours, we reached the base of the North Couloir of Mt. Emerson at 10am.
Already, the mountain was shedding snow and ice.
We were skeptical but decided to go up a bit and see.
What we saw was more snow and ice flying down the chute and it was an easy call to turn around and abort the mission.
It was incredibly hot even up high today and it appears that summer, at long last, has finally arrived in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
The way it felt to me today, was that big lines with rockfall, icefall, and snowfall potential are likely done for the season…
We’ll now be hunting for couloirs and open zones that don’t put us at risk for falling rock, ice, and snow the rest of the month.
If you’re interested in skiing the California Backcountry, please contact Alpenglow Expeditions for a guide and all the local knowledge.
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