SierraDescents | Category | Current Conditions
August 21, 2021
The Smoke Season

In summer we used to worry about thunderstorms and permits. Now we worry about smoke. Climate change is transforming the Sierra hiking and climbing season into a dystopia of (more)
April 18, 2021
Closing Day

Snow Valley spun its lifts for the last time for the 2020-2021 season today, making them (by a week) the longest-running SoCal resort this winter. Has that ever happened (more)
June 15, 2020
Is Throop Still Going?

For those of you who built the kicker at the bottom of the last snowfield on Throop Peak and were still hitting it as of yesterday...I salute you. (more)
April 27, 2020
Baldy’s North Face

Here's Mount Baldy's north face, as seen from near the summit of Throop Peak off Highway 2 yesterday. By the standards of today, there is still a lot of snow out there, though (more)
March 28, 2020
Los Angeles With Clean Air

Thanks to our continued unsettled weather and our unprecedented statewide sequestration, Los Angeles is currently enjoying air quality perhaps never before seen in its modern (more)
February 13, 2020
Sierra Snowpack Update

We were off to such a good start this winter, but the storm spigot closed essentially at the end of December, and a month and a half of dry weather has now taken its (more)
January 27, 2020
Snow Valley Sunday

Sunday at Snow Valley was a handsome day, starting out mostly cloudy and then finishing off with a nice burst of sunshine in the afternoon. Coverage on the hill is thinning but (more)
December 29, 2019
San Jacinto Grind

A truism of Southern California is you don't get good SoCal skiing unless you risk getting bad SoCal skiing. We got the bad version yesterday, which began with stunning lines at (more)
November 30, 2019
November Snow

I tried I tried I tried to get some classic L.A. skyline-and-snow shots, but the clouds have just not been cooperating. There is snow out there, obviously, and a lot of (more)