Wallowing in Winter’s Warmth @ Kirkwood – 03/18/16 The season rolls on and El Nino has been gracious enough to continue to add substantial resets every Monday or so. On this day, we headed out to Kirkwood to check out the conditions in the West Shore area after 6 feet of new snow fell the previous on the tail of the previous weekend. Unfortunately, I could not make it out during the storm due to road closures and not wanting to spend all day in the car with my two lovely children. The storm followed the traditional pattern of big snowfall, high winds and then followed by four days of warm Spring temperatures. After finding a nasty ice layer two weeks prior, I was a bit hesitant to fully unleash on some of the steeper and more exposed lines, so we settled with a relatively conservative jaunt over to Boulevard Chute. To our surprise, we encountered a consistent wintery and silky surface all the way to Emigrant Lake. The rest of the day was spent searching for chalky and softening snow in Hell’s Delight, Norm’s Nose, The Wall, Sisters Chute and of course all aspects of Cornice Chair. Remember, the sun angle is a bit higher so those North facing hidden gems are beginning to get their fare share of sunlight, so if it snows, its best to get after it early. Bottom line, the upper mountain is CAKED. Cliffs and massive rock formations are now buried in areas like West Shore, All the Way, Fingers and Chamoix. Conditions Report Casey Cane | March 22, 2016 1 Comment
Friday Fun: Dan Osman Speed-Free-Solo’s Lover’s Leap, CA in 4 Mins 25 Secs… The legendary Dan Osman free climbing Lover’s Leap via the Bear’s Reach route (5.7, 400+ feet) in 4 min 25 sec. Osman tragically died in 1998 at the age of 35 after his rope failed while performing a “controlled free-fall” jump in Yosemite National Park. This clip was originally featured in the movie Masters of Stone IV, released in 1997. Daniel Eugene Osman (February 11, 1963 – November 23, 1998)[1] was a Japanese-American extreme sport practitioner, known for the dangerous sports of free-soloing, rock climbing without ropes […] ameliatraynor | January 30, 2015 1 Comment
Rainbow Pools / Yosemite / Tioga Pass Report & Photo Tour: I drove through Yosemite on Friday and Saturday. Rainbow Pools was going off. I’ve never seen so many people there. I had to park up the road and walk down. That’s never happened to me. There were over 100 people hanging out, fishing, swimming, peanut gallerying, and cliff jumping. One guy threw a double backflip and put the rest of us to shame. A couple other guys, who’d clearly been drinking, tried flips and ended up doing 1.25 flips with very loud, painful, and entertaining consequences. The crowd that spends time at Rainbow Pools is the classic American crowd. I call it the Big ___s and Tattoo crowd – B.T.&T. in [..] Conditions Report Miles Clark | July 21, 2014 1 Comment
Tioga Pass Scouting Report: Ellery Bowl Chutes | + Rainbow Pools Report: I drove over Tioga Pass today around 12:30pm. I didn’t have time to ski but did have time to stop and scope out Ellery Bowl. Things are melting fast on Tioga and you can only fully ski down right now on the far skiers left at the bottom. I skied Chute Out last Friday and it was still good but you can’t ski the very upper section now. It’s all rocks. Poop […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | May 27, 2014 2 Comments
Yosemite Rim Fire Aftermath Rainbow Pools Did Not Burn Report & Photo Tour This past Sunday, I drove up to see the damage from the Yosemite Rim Fire and to check if my favorite cliff jumping spot, Rainbow Pools, had been burned. The Yosemite Rim Fire was a highly destructive fire in August and September that burned over 257,000 acres (full fire statistics below). I took highway 120 up towards […] Miles Clark | October 22, 2013 6 Comments
How Climate Change Fuels Wildfires | Explained in 90-Seconds: This video was created by Climate Desk and they have Matthew Hurteau, Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Science & Management at Pennsylvania State University, explaining to us how climate change fuels wildfires. They specifically hit on California’s Sierra Nevada where the Rim Fire is currently burning in and around Yosemite National Park. It is now California’s 15 largest wildfire in history and it’s no letting up anytime soon. This fire is a negative in from many angles. The area […] SnowBrains | August 27, 2013 6 Comments