SierraDescents.com

SierraDescents | 2009

Baldy Freak Show (aka: Skiing the North Face)

Baldy Freak Show (aka: Skiing the North Face)

Coming off my Tyndall adventure, I thought it would be nice to do an easy tour this weekend...so I decided to ski Mount Baldy's north face. Okay, maybe my difficulty scale got (more)

Tyndall in a Day

Tyndall in a Day

The plan was simple: climb and ski Mount Tyndall in a single day. There were good reasons to try—and good reasons not. But it is the lot of the occasionally ambitious ski (more)

Shepherd Pass

Shepherd Pass

The plan was simple: Tyndall in a day. But as I made the pitch to my climbing partners, one by one they found various reasons to be elsewhere. And who could blame them? To get (more)

Baldy Aerial View

Baldy Aerial View

Back home now in sunny Southern California. Here's a look at Mt. San Antonio's north face as seen yesterday through the plane window. I was hoping to catch a peek at San (more)

Previewing the Apocalypse

Previewing the Apocalypse

Well, instead of snow, so far we're just getting more dust. As the afternoon progressed, the sky grew more and more pink, and the snow started to look as if God had sprinkled (more)

Chair 9, Dust, Winter Storm Watch

Chair 9, Dust, Winter Storm Watch

What a funny trip this has been. I really agonized over whether or not to go, and finally decided at the last minute, thinking I'd enjoy some late-spring skiing. And then this (more)

Black Iron Bowl

Black Iron Bowl

Checking in here from Telluride, Colorado. This was a last-minute trip, but opportunity came knocking, so I thought I'd shirk my Sierra responsibilities and head east to the (more)

Hasty Search

Hasty Search

"Hasty Search" was originally the title given to the first location effort in a search and rescue operation. This phase, obviously, takes place after a qualified individual has (more)

On the Chairlift

On the Chairlift

Went up Sunday to ski in-bounds at Mount Baldy. It was one of those kinds of days that only a mother could love: high wind, no visibility, and cold, damp air that coated (more)

The Importance of Self Rescue

The Importance of Self Rescue

One of the most jolting things I learned this past weekend at the Southern California National Ski Patrol's one-day avalanche rescue course was, paradoxically, the importance of (more)

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