Sierra: driest spring on record
By ccrossen | May 16, 2008
As we approach the 80-degree mark this weekend, while still hearing of epic powder days in Colorado, it comes as little surprise that this past winter, after a great start, fell well short of the mark. March and April were low-water prodcuers, setting the record for the dreiest spring we’ve ever had. It was a great season, an amazing January, with non-stop, 200 inches of great pow, a solid base. We had some good storms in February, but then it ended.
Overview article from the Sierra Sun:
Ski resorts enjoyed one more significant storm, a healthy 5-foot barrage of snow during the third week of February, but for the rest of the season Squaw Valley received a meager 35 inches of additional snow on the upper mountain at 8,200 feet in elevation. The dry March was followed by an even more parched April, so it now appears that this spring (March, April, May) will go down as the driest on record for the Northern Sierra. The lack of late winter precipitation diminished the snowpack and reduced runoff forecasts. On April 1 the statewide snowpack looked good with just under 100 percent of normal, but by May 1 water content had plummeted to just 67 percent of average. The Central Sierra snowpack water content is even less, at 61 percent of normal for the date.
Topics: Tahoe Snow Report | No Comments »
photography: chris jordan
By ccrossen | May 15, 2008
The more we consume (see previous post - a lot of gear to consumer, where does it end? how should we react? do we really need a new lantern? a new water bottle? a new board bag?) the more our landscapes and environments absorb an overwhelming amount of dietris and crap. And the more we grow, the more we consume, spread out, and put ourselves within harms way…
Chris Jordan’s photographs help document, in an austere and beautiful way, what we are doing to our world, and how we pay for it in numerous ways.
Some gallery highlights to explore on his site:
Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption
In Katrina’s Wake: Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster
Topics: Introduction | No Comments »
switching over
By ccrossen | May 14, 2008
While friends in Colorado are STILL getting powder days and loving the big season, we’ve pretty much switched over in Cali. People are still skiing the high lines off places like Shasta and Virginia Lakes, but the sun cups are out, and the corn is done early. It’s a slog to get up and down and back there right now. It’s also supposed to hit 80 in Truckee this weekend, and temps that high do funny things to the brain. The climbing’s great, the mountain biking is in down low, and we’re doing things like heading out of town to surf south swell. I am heading down to Nicaragua and Costa Rica for a while. Along the way I have some new breaks and places to explore and a bunch of gear to test out.
Some highlights:
Apollo Lantern from Black Diamond 
Shortboard Coffin Bag from Destination Surf
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Surf Cap from Patagonia
Board Shorts from Prana
Cactus Juice
Platy Bottle from Cascade Designs (always BPA-free)
New Tritan Nalgene Bottle (BPA-free)
Teva Ultimate Thongv 
DoubleNest Hammock from Eagles Nest Outfitters
Topics: Introduction | No Comments »
Soul Surfers? NY Times’ Take
By ccrossen | May 9, 2008
Not exactly sure what a soul surfer is? The NY Times takes its crack at the definition, which seems to require a longboard.
“… a surfing subculture that has been around for years is beginning to grow. So-called soul surfers, more concerned with the individuality of the sport, and less with the commercial aspects, are picking up the old boards in an effort to retain the original spirit of surfing.”
“And soul is what the retro scene is all about. But that soul can be even more finely sliced, divided into camps, like longboarders, shortboarders and kneeboarders.”
Uh-huh. Can’t really say that’s my definition. A soul-surfer is a longboarder? Is a soul-traveler, is a ski-bum, is a climbing-bum, is a dirt bag, is a…?
Just kidding about all of this actually, interesting to see that the NY Times has posted so many surfing-related stories lately. Last week they published a story on the surf scene in Peru.
The soul-surfing article ‘Soul Surfers’ Rekindle the Love of the Longboard actually looks at those people interested in riding vintage logs and longboards. No mention of all the soul-surfers riding old fish, new fish, fives, bonzers, etc. etc., but there you have it. The whole “soul” scene has been back in vogue for awhile now, especially with the whole Thomas Campbell school of surf love.
Topics: Introduction | No Comments »
Guest Trip Report: Mt. Williamson, Andy & PJ
By ccrossen | May 9, 2008
Mt. Williamson Date: May 2/3 Route: North Fork Bairs Creek Plan was to hit trailhead and do the nasty route find/bushwhack in the evening light not the morning dark. Was concerned if we did alpine start in the no moon dark the route-find would be impossible. Then, sleep somewhere and get up the next day climb and ski and bushwhack all the way out. General Summary of Pre-Trip Concerns: *Finding trailhead and road not presenting too many crazy problems . . . first time TH’s always more complex off dirt roads than you think and this wasn’t even a TH . . . more like a “park by a creek and start walking up it” *Bushwhacking the lower canyon w/ overnight packs/skis/boots on back just generally getting whipped by trees/brush and being all tall and wide ick *Finding the route through the canyon if we were fortunate enough to even be able to move amongst the cliffs and loose sand and brush and b.s. *Finding snow (was told to expect in general ~9.5k snowline) . . . this concern only intensified as we drove down eastside . . . snow was so far away on everything . . . what if snow line was at like 11k and portions of the upper mt route were all rocky and shit . . . were we even going skiing? *Getting place to camp before nightfall on Friday *Strength coming off sickness *Staying on route in lower cirque after reading about dudes getting lost in dark in one of myriad of “wrong” gullies Here is what happened Friday: 12:15pm: Leave Tahoe, Andy driving 3:15pm: Taco Bell in Bishop, pick up half case bud. Elderberry on Mt. Tom is still pretty filled start convincing myself that the key to snow is a big protected NE facing Cirque w/ deep gullies/etc. . . . stomach gnawing . . . 3:16pm: P.J drinking bud, Andy too nervous about trip (see Pre-Trip concerns) 4:15pm: Turn onto foothill road (only one mildly sketchy section) . . . see Cirque from Independence and it has a bunch of snow feel a little better 4:30pm: Trailhead (btw throw Moynier in garbage and follow Richins for Williamson) 5:10pm: Leave trailhead (battle of “light” vs. “comfort” . . . ended up going w/ approach shoes and tent – meaning carry boots and tent – both ended up being good decisions . . . left rainfly which had predictable result as noted later) . . . ~6100’ 6:10pm: Find the magic “notch” ~7200. This is all bullshit. There are at least 3 “notches”. Climb the rounded ridge on N. Side of Creek to 7k feet. Then traverse through like 3 notches. You won’t see the “real” notch until you are practically in it. After notch traverse as flat as possible up and over and under and around cliff bluffs and trees and scree/sand/loose B.S. /etc. 7:00pm: Reach “choke” before the creek split at ~7300’. Sand or fleas. Willows/alder/bramble or cliffs. Take cliffs. Couple 5.7 moves required (P.J. told me, I’m not a rock-climber, yet). I tried to avoid a rock move and turtle in bramble. 10 minutes of redline effort to get out. Terrible. Avoid bramble at all costs, even falling off cliffs. 7:20pm: Cross creek below split at ~7400 and climb up S side of S/Left fork until above initial cliffs/bramble . . . find a way to cross creek to the “bare rib” separating the two forks . . . start climbing the rib . . . heinous loose bushwhack 8:00pm: Yes it is getting dark but should have another hour of daylight to find a campspot must achieve circue to find some terrain that is less than 30 degree pitch and find some snow/etc. . . . wishful thinking 8:20pm: Damn it is dark, go to headlamps . . . we could be really screwed are we on route? 8:40pm: Get on snow tongue covering S. Fork following a gradual traverse off of rib still nowhere to camp not even close (note this was at about ~8500 feet but as we learned later the right place to get on snow from the dirt rib is above a prominent waterfall/cliff at ~8k . . .). Start climbing snow (still in tennis shoes) boy it was wonderful and kind of re-frozen grippy . . . just wonderful . . . couldn’t see shit 100% pitch dark beyond headlamp . . . take a photo (see photos) and camera battery dies . . . officially retarded . . . luckily P.J. has a camera too 9:20pm: Settle on the scratchiest camp site ever . . . start working on it so place to put tent . . . was near running water we could hear and a patch of dirt/snow . . . so much vegetation on everything best move is prolly find place w/ enough snow to dig a level platform . . . but anything level ground was melted and covered in tough Manzanita and rocks/etc. . . . and snow was still kind of thin enough where we were that digging a level platform questionable . . . so we went hybrid snow/dirt transition piling snow on bushes to ‘flatten’ the site 10:00pm: camp set, melting water (the running water was far away in dark and we knew going to be nightmare to access anyway through bramble and snow bridges/etc.). drinking (took too little water on way in). boiled water, freeze dried dinners, etc. delicious . . . P.J. got really chilled and got in bag in tent. Pretty nice night w/ light wind and stars and Independence flickering way down the valley. But really black night and pretty cold. No idea really what is around us. We are at ~9500. We are on snow and stoked and figure we are in the cirque. Getting nervous/excited about next day. Hoping I can sleep given the wacky surface the tent is on 11:15pm: climb in bag in tent. No rain fly means great star-gazing. Start wrestling w/ snow-covered Manzanita at midsection. Rub toes for while which had become cold in tennis shoes damp from snow climbing. 11:45pm: drank too much water. Go hose 12:30pm: drifting off but damn I think marmots or maybe bigger outside on our packs or something . . . hear rustling everywhere . . . confused . . . decide to surprise them w/ headlamp flash through the screen on roof of tent . . . flash headlamp on and am greeted with . . . dumping snow? Damn, it is snowing. Stars out overhead. Must be running over from crest to West. Had read about this slight possibility, wasn’t too worried, supposed to be very light/scattered/etc.. But, go get boots from outside/etc. The “critter rustling” was snow blowing down the frozen slopes outside our tent and whisking off the tent walls . . . ~1:15am: Was actually really comfortable in tent . . . had figured out how to “spoon” the Manzanita and was kind of suspended by it . . . drifted off Saturday 5:15am: wake up naturally to early dawn light . . . so warm and comfortable and it is cold (~20) outside and in the tent (again, no fly) . . . snow showers were light we are fine on that front . . . finally rally into the cold and get stove going . . . P.J. makes the heroic trip to fill water bladders w/ his filter . . . too hard to get to water w/ filter so just fills them and I drop Iodine tablets in . . . but at least we have water . . . Jetboil delivers hot oatmeal and tea for breakfast . . .bring jetboil for day in case we have a water situation . . . love for jetboil off charts . . . 6:30am: leave camp on skins . . . beautiful morning clear and cold and calm . . . frozen and uneven snow surface not fun to skin on . . . we both kind of feel cold and stiff and stomachs not stoked (iodine water not helping – luckily I had lemon-lime electrolyte tablets for us these are a must for me in future for taste and hydration reasons) . . . rock and frozen water/ice-fall boom around the cirque all morning as the sun hits and warms . . . we stay to center of cirque for obvious reasons 8:30am: Reach base of headwall coolie at ~12k and take a rest and a bite and switch to crampons . . . P.J., known for ‘laziness’, just goes boots. He sets initial booter on climber right of coolie in the soft and contoured snow slightly warmed by sun . . . I pass him and put booter into shade where it is cool and firm and wonderful . . .I’m sure P.J. will put on crampons . . . but he doesn’t instead boots up bowling ball claiming my track gave him “just enough” boot purchase . . . those who know P.J. aren’t surprised at this 10:00am: Top of coolie at ~13k and over a talus field ridge and holy shit a giant snow field staring you in the face and the Willaimson towers . . . it looks like 4k feet . . . using all my trust in the beta I have and my altimeter to convince me otherwise that it is really only like 1400’ to the summit . . . also have no idea how the towers can’t be the summit . . . and positive we can’t climb them . . . kind of worried and depressed that the books and everything are just wrong 11:15am: Get to top of summit snowfield at ~14k . . . towers still look gigantic . . . not clear where summit is – left up a ridge or right towards the towers . . . really thinking it is left up a ridge that is long and w/ far away high points . . . P.J. more confident than me thankfully and we head that direction . . . get too high on ridge too early and am traversing huge granite blocks slow going and tired just want the top 11:45am: After cresting a couple of high points on the ridge that I literally thought must be the summit – I see the registry on another highpoint and stand by it and we are stoked. Misty cloud formations are rushing up the east faces, we are above them . . . it is clear to the W and N . . . Whitney is shrouded and N. face looks sick . . . could spit on Tyndall . . . actually looking down on the Williamson towers . . . take photos, choke down some food . . . hope that the vis and the snow is ok w/ these strange clouds for the descent . . . 12:20pm: Leave summit, better route on scree/boulder/talus field back to snow 12:40pm: Start skiing down upper summit snowfield. Not great vis kind of in cloud now. Snow is soft and stable, top couple inches just warmed enough . . . lot of mini shark fin contour however . . . couple fun steep turns through some rocks then open it up (at least until your head explodes such is skiing at 14k feet) . . . traverse far skiers right on field and find smoother snow . . . pretty stoked and hoping coolie has good snow now . . . I take P.J.s camera down to get in good photo position in the coolie. . . the snow feels great, perfect steep corn on skiers left where sun has done some good work . . . p.j. skis it . . . super cool asthetics w/ the rock walls and independence and owens valley below . . . classic eastside . . . I ski it – one of the best steep snow b.c. descents I’ve had just great snow enabling fun over fear and all the while sick asthetics . . . ski the cirque really fun very elderberry like . . . keep finding the smooth corn really nice 1:20pm: Arrive at camp . . . mix of psyched to have had a great climb and ski and sumitt . . . but reality of what lies ahead kind of sets in we are so far from out of woods . . . we take it easy melt a bunch of water, eat, enjoy the mixed cloud/sun and warm temps and lower elevation . . . change into bushwhack gear but we know we can ski down at least another ~1500 . . . get all packed up 2:00pm: leave camp and ski down the s. fork of the creek covered in soft snow but a bit contoured at this stage . . . and w/ heavy packs don’t really get any great turns but are at least descending on skis on snow vs. feet . . . come to a 40 foot cliff/waterfall at 8k feet and walk around it still w/ skis and get back to snow but this kind of thing takes a long time 3:00pm: At ‘7800 fully give up on snow . . . note if I ever climb this route again and am not sure of snow coverage (which would prolly be the case this route is only open dec 15 – jan 15 and april 15 – may 15 because of bighorn sheep preserve restrictions) I would climb just like we did on the bare snow rib and get the snow above the cliff on the S fork at ~8k feet . . .anyway we go boots to shoes and fully burden packs w/ skis and boots (the ‘pig’) and start the scramble down on the bare rib re-tracing our ascent route . . . I am thinking about “the choke” and the cliff/rock moves descending this time . . . we cross through the point at which the creek forks at ~7400 . . . note it looks like someone carpet bombed this area w/ literally feet of destroyed vegetation coating the hillsides including mature trees obviously insane avalanches barrel through here it is pretty impressive . . . anyway we get to the “choke” and the cliff moves and P.J. (rock-climber) leads and talks me through moves (put your hand here, stem this, swing leg here, friction climb, other foreign terms, etc.) . . . we are doing this w/ ~60 pound packs w/ a-frame skis and boots in bindings I am trying not to think about this . . .anyway we get through it to the relative ‘mellowness’ of the rest of the canyon and head for the “notch” 4:30pm: Get the ‘notch’ . . . tasting cold beer P.J. has stashed in creek by car . . . convinced P.J. is a genius we hadn’t brought a cooler and I was sure we would have to drive to independence before such a reward . . . literally trotting/shuffling down the loose slopes towards the car . . . see the car far away . . . cool 5:00pm: Arrive at car, inhale a beer, change clothes . . . annoying bugs on everything and in car decide to get the hell out of there . . . have to drive back to tahoe . . . realize I am having trouble keeping the car straight on the road and this is not because of the one beer. Focus. 6:30pm: Amigo’s in Bishop. Excited. Have been talking a big game to P.J. Mild disappointment at 2 things 1.)no normal margs . . . they say from a “bottle” . . . I am thinking we just climbed and skied and bushwhacked that beast and you want to give us a marg in a bottle that is bullshit . . . we stick to beers 2.) no matter how much amigo’s brand hot sauce I put on my chimichanga I can’t get it hot enough. However the beans of course are amazing. 7:30pm: Leave Amigo’s and drive back to Tahoe drop P.J. at his place in Incline at 11:00 and pull into my driveway at 11:30. List of things I would do differently: *Leave at 3pm instead of 5pm so not in dark finding campsite. Would not try to do one day the route finding in dark would be terrible (I guess I could probably do it now having done it especially if good moon – but would not recommend it for sure on first time) *Once on way in and once on way out I thought I could brave the bramble in “the choke” just downstream from the stream split vs. rock-climbing on cliffs above it . . . dumb decision both times *Would have taken more than 40 oz water in for the ‘day one’ *Would have got on snow over S Fork at ~8k feet from the bare rib right above the major cliff/waterfall in the creek . . . of course it was dark on the ascent at this point so couldn’t have known but this would have minimized bushwack (and would have been nice to know that at creek crossing ~7400 only had another ~600 feet until snow) *Summit scree field . . . stay low and walk easy over dirt and then go straight up when you see what you think is the high point (vs. ‘traversing’ the ridge) Smart decisions: *approach shoes (we both used lightweight trailrunners) *approach in daylight *tent/jetboil *our route (except again for climbed higher on dirt on way in than we needed too) *bring P.J he is sick route-finder like a Native American or something tracking faint game trails + rock routes . . . plus he picked up the Bud and put it in a creek . . . General times: *trailhead to campsite at 9500: 4 hours *campsite to summit: 5.5 hours *total climb from trailhead: 9.5 hours *summit to campsite: 1 hour (40 minute ski) *campsite to car: 3 hours 
Topics: Introduction | No Comments »