Hometown Mountain Shoutout: Kirkwood, CA – The Wood Growing up just south of San Fransisco, Tahoe and the Sierra was my playground in the winter. When I was learning to ski my family would make the drive to Northstar and Squaw Valley, but as I got older, Kirkwood began to draw my attention. Out of all the mountains I grew up skiing, my eyes drew to Kirkwood more […] Industry News Ryan Flynn | October 2, 2023 4 Comments
Lake Tahoe, CA Report: 10,300′ Round Top’s “Crescent Couloir” & Memories of the “Dogahawk” Report from May 11, 2022 Yesterday I awoke at 6am in the California delta. On the road by 7am headed directly to Mammoth to ski the afternoon. 24-hour fast day. I swerved around a crashed truck at 8am in the valley. Green grass and oak trees in the foothills. Snowy in the upper foothills. Then quite a bit of snow […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | May 11, 2022 1 Comment
Huge Snowstorm Brings First Reported Avalanche of the Season in California (Carson Pass Area) The Sierra Avalanche Center is reporting a large avalanche on Steven’s Peak in California, following the huge snowstorm over the last few days. Related: The Dangers of Early Season Backcountry Skiing Report below: The October 24-25 storm event deposited copious amounts of rain followed by 6 to 40 inches of new snow across the forecast area. The areas of the […] Avalanche AvyBrains | October 27, 2021 0 Comments
The Abandoned – Iron Mountain, CA In today’s mega-resorts/mega-passes era, it almost seems as if some of the big resort names in the ski industry could never fail as a business (excluding if mother nature has something to say about it). This was not always the case. For most of the ski industry’s time in the United States, resorts closing their doors were more common headlines. […] Brains Ryan Flynn | January 4, 2021 19 Comments
August Aggression Session on The Sisters – Tahoe, CA How big was winter 2016/17 in the Tahoe region? The answer: we’re skiing non-glaciated terrain at the end of August! At around 6AM of August 24th, Joe Stewart and I ventured out on HWY 88 from South Lake Tahoe en route to Woods Lake. By just before 7AM, we were on the trail up towards The Sisters to find some late August turns. The Sisters are a few tall peaks (just above 10,000 feet) located due East of Kirkwood that hold north facing pockets of snow well into late Summer. We knew there would be snow, however, the big question for late Summer skiing is the state of the suncups. Massive suncups equate to the worst possible skiing surface known to man. Luckily, with the sun shining and a relatively easy hike up to the ski boot transition zone, we were greeted by a long steep slope with minimal suncups. Yippie! Trip Report Casey Cane | November 7, 2017 4 Comments
VIDEO: Skier Goes for Ride in Avalanche on Carson Pass, CA (Lake Tahoe) Yesterday [arve url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IIebfrgdJQ&feature=share"] AvyBrains | April 11, 2017 0 Likes 3 Tweets 0 Comments
**Updated** Skier Partially Buried in Avalanche in Lake Tahoe, CA Yesterday | Avy Report: **This article was updated at 5:20pm PST when the Sierra Avalanche Center updated their report with a report directly from a skier who was in the group of the skier caught in the avalanche, an avalanche accident analysis, and two photos of the avalanche from today. A backcountry skier was carried 150-vertical-feet by an avalanche and partially buried on Elephants […] Avalanche SnowBrains | November 12, 2015 6 Comments
Terminating the Terrible Tahoe Season @ Carson Pass, CA Given the absolutely dismal year we had here in Northern California, I never would have guessed that the annual mid-June climb to ski around the Carson Pass area would have the snow to pull it off. Well, after above average snowfall for May 2015, Round Top Peak (10,381 ft) and the Sisters Peaks (10,153 ft) failed to disappoint. Backcountry Casey Cane | July 17, 2015 5 Comments
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