Clamoring for a New Couloir – Sonora Pass, CA For the duration of the month of May, a continuation of high altitude storms thankfully added to the historically shallow Sierra snowpack. With these storms dropping a foot here, a few inches there, another foot there, I realized the window of opportunity could possibly exist for a certain zone of chutes that I have been eyeing for many years. It’s in an area on Sonora Pass that few frequent as you have to boot directly up a choice of two couloirs, of which, cannot be accessed from above. After a week and a half of road closures among a constant study of the weather, it looked like our chance[…] Backcountry Casey Cane | June 26, 2015 2 Comments
Dreadful Drought You Say? Skiing Lines in May! @ Sonora Pass, CA Back in mid-May, the ski season refused to die in California despite the existence of an unprecedented drought…so the snow soldiers rolled on! The mountain highway passes (89, 4, 108, & 120) all opened in April because of the lack of snow. As a frequent ski tourer of said passes, the usual plan of attack is to get there right when they open as snow conditions generally deteriorate […] Backcountry Casey Cane | June 23, 2015 3 Comments
Tioga Pass & Sonora Pass REOPEN Today After Snowstorm Closures Tioga Pass & Sonora Pass have reopened today at about 9am. Happy Memorial Weekend! 9,624-foot Sonora Pass never did reopen after the last snowstorm closed both Tioga and Sonora back on May 14th. Mammoth had a fun little powder day yesterday and today should be even better. It snow like crazy for a long time yesterday afternoon/evening. The weather is forecast to continue to be unsettled the next few days. We’re hoping they can get Tioga reopened for the big Memorial Day Weekend. We’ll keep you posted. […] Industry News SnowBrains | May 22, 2015 0 Comments
Tioga Pass REOPENS | Sonora Pass CLOSED 9,943-foot Tioga Pass and 9,624-foot Sonora Pass closed last week on May 14th due to a snowstorm that came through the area and dropped up to a foot of snow on the roadways. This was the 2nd time these passes have closed due to snowstorms since their record early opening on April 17th, 2015. The weather has cleared up since May 14th allowing for Tioga Pass to open yesterday. Sonora pass has remained closed however, possibly due to deeper snow on the highway and continued isolated snow showers that have persisted in the area this week including today. NOAA is […] SnowBrains | May 20, 2015 1 Comment
Tioga Pass & Sonora Pass, CA CLOSE Today Due to Snowstorm 9,943′ Tioga Pass & 9,624′ Sonora Pass in California have both closed today for the second time since they officially opened for the summer on April 17th. That April 17th opening of the two passes was one of the earliest pass openings in history due to this being the lowest snowfall winter on record. Tioga and Sonora passes are closed due to a large snowstorm from the Gulf of Alaska that is hitting California today. That storm is forecast to continue to snow on the passes through tomorrow. Both Tioga and Sonora passes closed last week for […] Industry News SnowBrains | May 14, 2015 0 Comments
Tioga Pass & Sonora Pass REOPEN in CA After Large Snowstorm: 9,945′ Tioga Pass and 9,624′ Sonora Pass in California closed last Thursday due to a large snowstorm that dropped 18″ on Mammoth Mountain, CA. They have both now reopened after those roads have been cleared of that new snow. Tioga and Sonora passes had near record early openings this year both being opened completely by April 17th, 2015. We drove over Tioga pass last Wednesday and the skiing near the road was nothing to write home about. We chose not to ski Ellery Bowl due to lack of snow. Report here: […] Industry News SnowBrains | May 11, 2015 6 Comments
Tioga Pass & Sonora Pass CLOSE Due to Large Snowstorm Somewhere around 1-2 feet of snow fell on both 9,945′ Tioga and 9,624′ Sonora passes and they’re both still experiencing snowfall today. In response to this, Cal Trans has closed both of the passes indefinitely. “This was one of the best storms Mono County has had in the last couple years…and it’s May! Here are some snow totals as of 9 am. Tioga, Sonora, and Monitor Passes are currently […] Industry News SnowBrains | May 8, 2015 1 Comment
Sonora Pass, Ca OPENS Friday! | Tioga Pass OPEN to Summit Today! One good thing about low snowfall in California is that both the Sonora and Tioga passes in California will be opening very early. Sonora pass opens Friday and Tioga pass will open to the pass at 9,943-feet from the East today. Both of these passes give access to some of the most incredible backcountry skiing in the USA. SONORA AND TIOGA PASS OPENING DATES: 9,624-foot Sonora Pass will open on Friday, April 17th, 2015. 9,943-foot Tioga […] Industry News SnowBrains | April 15, 2015 0 Comments
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