SierraDescents.com

SierraDescents | 2006

Hiking San Jacinto Peak

Hiking San Jacinto Peak

Of the view atop Southern California's San Jacinto Peak, elevation 10,804', John Muir reportedly said, 'it is the most sublime spectacle to behold upon this Earth.' Having (more)

Avalanche Gulch Trip Report

Avalanche Gulch Trip Report

I've saved the best for last: a summit ski descent of Mount Shasta via Avalanche Gulch. Despite the route's poor reputation (for snow quality and crowds), this trip easily ranks (more)

Shasta Windstorm

Shasta Windstorm

The weather looked promising...and then came the wind. Huge contrails of snow curled overhead like giant fingers reaching out over Avalanche Gulch. The sound of it was like a (more)

Langley – Skiing the Northeast Couloir

Langley - Skiing the Northeast Couloir

Mount Langley, California — sunlight breaks through swirling clouds, revealing a giant, winding couloir that drop past spires and buttresses to the Tuttle Creek Drainage, 3500 (more)

Skiing Williamson’s Bairs Creek Cirque

Skiing Williamson's Bairs Creek Cirque

Well, I've tried my best to explain what climbing Williamson was like. This was an especially difficult Trip Report to write, because I had so much to say, and because so little (more)

Mountaineering Terms

Mountaineering Terms

Did you know SierraDescents.com has a glossary? Neither did I. Okay, I may have forgotten. I started a glossary in the Basecamp section when I first began working on this site, (more)

Snowy Thoughts

Snowy Thoughts

What good is a record-setting snowpack if you can't ski it? That's the question some Sierra skiers may be asking, especially after yesterday's in-bounds avalanche at Mammoth (more)

Skiing Stockton Flats

Skiing Stockton Flats

Stockton Flats is not the benign glade it appears to be on the trail map. I strongly discourage anyone from entering the region unless they've studied a topo map, are prepared to (more)

Say It Isn’t So

Say It Isn’t So

Multiple sources are reporting Doug Coombs has been killed while skiing in La Grave, France. Coombs apparently slipped and fell while trying to aid a friend who had just fallen (more)

National Geographic Returns to Chernobyl

National Geographic Returns to Chernobyl

If you've found the Ghost Town/Kid of Speed entry on my links page, you may have guessed I'm fascinated with Chernobyl, site of the world's worst nuclear accident. In the April (more)

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About SierraDescents

When there is snow, SierraDescents is Andy Lewicky's California backcountry skiing and mountaineering website. Without snow, sierradescents becomes an ill-tempered hiking and climbing blog.

Pray for snow.