SierraDescents | 2013
April 15, 2013
Mammoth
Thank goodness we have Mammoth! Your Southern Sierra looks an awful lot like summer right now, but atop Mammoth Mountain there's got to be a solid 12 feet or so of snow. With (more)
April 11, 2013
Salomon X-Race
Not one ski but several, Salomon's X-Race varies its sidecut radius by length, allowing skiers to match the ski to their preferred turn shape. So for example if you pick the (more)
April 5, 2013
Volkl Code L
New for the 2013-2014 season, Volkl's Code Speedwall L offers performance skiers a fun and lively alternative to both the RTM and RaceTiger lines. I'm not big on the RTM skis (more)
April 1, 2013
Tecnica Cochise Pro Light
Yes, those are indeed tech fittings you see at the heel and toe of Tecnica's new Cochise Pro Light ski boot, and believe me, they're not just for decoration. The Cochise Pro (more)
April 1, 2013
Snow Valley: Done
Given what a rotten winter it's been in the backcountry, it was sure a solid season for me and my kids at Snow Valley...at least until today. The kids and I skied Easter 2012 at (more)
March 31, 2013
Esha Peak
This was a bit of Sierra serendipity: as I was driving into Mammoth last weekend, I found myself staring at an unknown peak up the McGee Creek drainage. I snapped a photo through (more)
March 28, 2013
Birch Mountain Benchmark
I like Birch Mountain as a benchmark for Eastern Sierra snowpack conditions because it's gigantic and because it's readily viewable from Highway 395. Birch's upper face tells us (more)
March 23, 2013
‘The Turn’
One of my more esoteric quests is the search for the perfect steep skiing turn. Steep technique turns out to be a fabulously nuanced and dynamic field of study. There are lots (more)
March 19, 2013
Rossignol Soul 7
Think of the Soul 7 as the sum of everything Rossignol has learned about making All Mountain/Powder skis over the last five years—and that turns out to be a lot. The Soul 7 (more)
March 18, 2013
Point of No Return?
Well there just hasn't been much news this winter in the current conditions category. For the Southland mountains I'd say we're fast approaching the point of no return (though (more)
