The State of the Snowpack: Hope For More Snow in 2024 This winter has brought a slow start to the ski season for ski resorts across North America. With few storms delivering a mix of rain and snow, many ski areas are struggling to open terrain. On top of little base snow, many resorts have also suffered from warm temperatures, precluding the use of snow-making systems to make up for the […] Weather Zach Armstrong | December 31, 2023 0 Comments
Mammoth Mountain, CA: Day Trip with a Gorgeous Drive, Incredible Skiing, and a Jump in June Lake Report from July 21, 2023 The 3:45 a.m. alarm started to go off after a restless, anticipation-filled night attempting to sleep. We both knew it was finally the day we would get to ski and ride at Mammoth Mountain, CA, for our first time. With roughly 3 hours of driving south down Highway 395 from South Lake Tahoe ahead of […] Conditions Report John Cunningham | July 24, 2023 0 Comments
The 5 Most Unique Ski and Snowboard Towns on The Planet When talking about the best places to ski and snowboard in, there’s a long list of factors to consider. It’s not always the ones with the most access, the most famous, or the highest elevation. To me, the best ski towns offer a plethora of things that skiers and snowboarders universally love. To start, it’s always helpful when they’re semi-affordable […] Brains Quintin Mills | June 21, 2023 1 Comment
NASA Satellite Chronicles the Return of Tulare Lake, CA As the Sierra Nevada snowpack melts after one of the deepest seasons in recorded history, Tulare Lake quickly returns to life after the most recent Western Mega Drought had left it empty for years. Seen in the images captured by NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on their Aqua Satellite, the lake has expanded at a rate of nearly 3,000 […] Industry News Tate Sundberg | May 23, 2023 0 Comments
Popular California Climbing Areas Near Bishop Closed this Spring due to Record-Breaking Snowfall The unprecedented snowfall in the Sierra Nevadas has created problems for individuals looking to climb popular routes in California. Although the nearly 700 inches of snow that the Northern and Central California ski resorts have seen has been a welcoming sight for skiers and snowboarders, the climbing community of the area is unfortunately not as happy. Related: 2022/23 is Now […] Climbing Matt Scribner | April 3, 2023 0 Comments
Price of California SNO-Parks Daily Permit Increases by 300% California State Parks’ Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division today announced a fee increase for California’s SNO-Parks Permit. Effective Nov. 1, 2022, the daily permit is going to increase from $5 to $15, and the season permit from $25 to $40. The fee increase, the first since 2000, will help offset the cost increase of operating 18 SNO-Parks along the Sierra […] Industry News SnowBrains | October 24, 2022 0 Comments
Legendary Mountaineer and Explorer Doug Stoup’s Favorite Places on Earth to Ski Doug Stoup has skied worldwide, from Alaska, the Arctic, and Antarctica to Europe and the Himalayas. So when he revealed his favorite places to ride on an episode of the SnowBrains podcast, we thought we’d share them with you. Related: Legendary Mountaineer and Explorer Doug Stoup’s Favorite Book Antarctica “Antarctica is probably my favorite place to go skiing.” The Alps […] SnowBrains | November 23, 2021 0 Comments
NOAA: Which Mountain Snowpacks are Most Vulnerable to Global Warming? This article was originally published by Alison Stevens on Climate.gov on March 22, 2021 As Earth heats up thanks to human-caused climate change, scientists expect that winter snowpacks will melt increasingly earlier in the spring. According to a new NOAA-funded study, these impacts are already underway, but global warming isn’t impacting every region equally. While snowpack in some regions has been […] SnowBrains | June 15, 2021 0 Comments