Backcountry Skiing -Southern California

Stew B wrote:

Been up several times through the south fork this year into Charleston. Usually just w my dog and/or wife. She hurt her knee and this week is looking like a nice storm rolling in. If things are looking good to go i would like to poke around up the san g drainage with a partner Sunday and/or monday. LMK if that sounds like your idea of a good time 646-7O6-2048 - stew

As you mentioned its looking like a nice storm is coming in.. this forcast is for San G summit .ATM ita calling for some serious precip. 

Did Sugarloaf area yesterday, went solo as it was my first day breaking in a new set of boots. Still enough snow to essentially skin from the car. Coverage remains very good on the skiable lines. Unfortunately I started a bit later than planned (~10 am) and the snow had already heated up and wet, resulting in some horrific levels of glomping. To echo the above, Open Snow is currently forecasting 130 inches (almost 11 feet!) of snow for San G over the next 10 days

I'm very excited about the snow but I'm skeptical that Caltrans will be plowing all of this immediately. I'd like to try to get out the following Monday with the gap between weather depending on road access.

Hey Everyone, keeping an eye on a weather window for this Sunday to ski tour the Sugarloaf area. Fingers crossed. 

Anybody know of a good option for renting backcountry skis + Avi gear in big bear or LA area? 

(One of my friends did AIARE 1 this year, wants to go out with us, but hasn't invested in gear yet...) 

Fingers crossed on storms. 

wow the storm estimates have really picked up and looking like it'll be apocalyptic. Snow possible down to 1500 ft? May head to zanja peak, probably can bag a fd haha. Hopefully theyll have some roads cleared enough by the weekend but i feel you are probably right Ethan Ayer.

I imagine San G is probably out for this weekend due to plowing and the 38 can be someone icy with lots of accidents. I'm planning on taking the back route up Saturday to do some storm laps at the resort and will report back regarding road conditions. Likely also planning on Sugarloaf for some powder laps on Sunday if conditions allow. 

Stew B wrote:

wow the storm estimates have really picked up and looking like it'll be apocalyptic. Snow possible down to 1500 ft? May head to zanja peak, probably can bag a fd haha. Hopefully theyll have some roads cleared enough by the weekend but i feel you are probably right Ethan Ayer.

I'll follow the impacts of the storm and maybe get out on Monday. But the following weekend seems like a better time to get out once the snow settles a bit and some of the roads finally get cleared.

Ethan Ayer wrote:

I'll follow the impacts of the storm and maybe get out on Monday. But the following weekend seems like a better time to get out once the snow settles a bit and some of the roads finally get cleared.

I'm local to SoCal and looking to get out to enjoy this snow Sunday/Monday as well.  Don't know many spots besides Baldy - would love to tag along or get some recommendations!  (I'm AIARE lvl 1 as well as an EMT) 

There have been some nice reports on charlton and jepson.  Has anybody tried the north facing slopes closer to the parking lot (on either side of shields peak)?   I was looking at these slopes:
34.13878, -116.88631
34.13838, -116.86533

I’ve done the north facing slopes closer to the road when it’s in.  it’s all good!  It will be epic once you can get back there on the roads.

there is a rad chute off of the north face of grinnel mtn you can see and access from the 38.  I’ve been eyeing it for so many years before I left big bear.   Nows the time to do that, somebody go do it!!!!  

Brad MacArthur wrote:

I’ve done the north facing slopes closer to the road when it’s in.  it’s all good!  It will be epic once you can get back there on the roads.

there is a rad chute off of the north face of grinnel mtn you can see and access from the 38.  I’ve been eyeing it for so many years before I left big bear.   Nows the time to do that, somebody go do it!!!!  

cool. I need to look at a local map.

For those looking to go out during and immediately after this storm cycle, be careful, check the avy reports and have a well thought out plan, the right gear and the right partners.  Just looking at the recent report from socalsnow and came across this tidbit on current conditions which is consistent with my recent tours.  “Recent reports from the San Gabriel Mountains indicate near surface facets and an icy crust snow surface.”

There’s  a lot of snow coming in and it’s coming in a lot of cycles and layers with breaks in between.  Be safe out there.

For those that don’t know where to find it:

socalsnow.org

Just got back from Big Bear skiing groomers w the kiddo…snowed 6 inches yeaterday while we were on the mountain…  snow level was down to 2000’ and the road up was full on … make aure you have 4x4 w chains at the ready .. 2wd will not cut it w/o 2 sets of chains.. be sure to carry a shovel , sleeping bag, food and water …looks like this storm will cont through the weekend .  

Just thought  I’d post a photo of the snow right now at my house down the road from Baldy!  This is at 1900 feet. First time ever we have had snow that is sticking! Baldy is going to be insane. We heard possible 8 feet from this storm. Have fun out there and be careful. 

Skunked out of Big Bear plans by road closures, I wanted to make the most of this storm and set out on an early AM mission to explore a new zone, the hills in my backyard! We got several rounds of snow over the past few days, mixed with rain, that finally added up to enough coverage to tour/ride (rock board definitely recommended) this morning though much of it has since melted off. This was the first time I've been able to tour from my front door and was quite a spectacle here in the High Desert. You can see a touch of the coverage on the Big Bear Mountains (San G is hidden in clouds) in the last photo. Should be amazing conditions up there later this week after the Monday-Wednesday storm rolls through! More photos/videos here: instagram.com

Low quality tour on fire roads around Idyllwild. About 1-2’ at 5,000ft. I chose much too flat roads, so not many turns were had 

48 hours after the storm, the simple road to Mountain High is still closed.   Woohoo for the nanny state!

Went up Marion mountain yesterday (Sunday 2/26) since it seem to be the only road open to backcountry access. Shoveled my own parking spot and skinned up from hwy 243. Followed more or less the summer trail until a little bit before PCT junction and then took a right up Marion mountain. Skiing down Marion was great having nice fresh pow for some beautiful turns. Eventually connected back to the trail and had to ski mostly sidewise back to the car. The snow got more wet towards the bottom sticking to my skis, maybe I need some wax. Skied all the way back to my car. 

^ Looking up, left Mt Saint Ellen, and Middle Marion Mt.

Looking forward to some good ski conditions next weekend and hopefully the roads will be open by then.

tom donnelly wrote:

48 hours after the storm, the simple road to Mountain High is still closed.   Woohoo for the nanny state!

Tom  have you seen how deep it got in Wrightwood? I'm not sure how their plow operations work up there, but unless you are up there shoveling or moving snow I don't think you can really hate on it. Baldy was awesome yesterday even though only chair 1 opened. From what i saw from local's IG stories, the road past Wrightwood is super buried. Maybe cleared in another day or two? There's still plenty of time to score. 

Skier: Alex Reed