skiing Archives - Sierra Mountain Center Guides

Skiing the Sierra High Route, 9-15 May

One of the most classic multi-day ski tours in the country is the Sierra High Route. Stretching across one of the widest points of the range, the tour consistently stays above 10,000 feet and travels through some of the most impressive alpine terrain anywhere. Jeff, Michael, and SMC's new intern Aaron joined me for a trip that seemed daunting at first, but became absolutely sublime by the finish. SMC adds mileage, terrain, impressive scenery, and fewer people (we saw none this year for the whole tour) by starting in Onion Valley and crossing Kearsarge Pass. This is a higher start - indeed, we were able to skin almost [...]

By SP parker|2019-06-06T07:23:34-07:00May 28th, 2010|Backcountry Skiing|

Hut trip with Sung and Dan 3.28.09

This was our last hut trip and we made it a two day starting on Saturday morning, spending one night and out on Sunday. The road to North Lake is melting quickly and I made the error of taking a sled. So we had to manhaul that over a few patches of black top. But Scott and Amundsen had it worse! The hut is great comfortable place with bunks woodstove and everything for a comfy stay. The skiing was mixed and the lower part of Paiute Canyon was melted out. But on Sunday we went up to above Lower Lamarck Lake and had some fun skiing on south facing slopes [...]

By SP parker|2016-12-23T19:52:39-08:00April 3rd, 2009|Backcountry Skiing|

Stacey Stapleton’s intro to Backcountry Skiing

Stacey found an old phone number for SMC , back when Sp ran SMG, in the depths of the web. She was thinking about snow-shoeing, but since she already knew how to ski we persuaded her that a set of randonnee skis might be a better way to go. Stacey was not entirely convinced, mainly because she had never heard of this type of skiing. But after just a few hours she was convinced and had a great day touring up into Glass Creek Meadow. This area became wilderness just a few days ago as Obama just signed the legislation that has taken years to get through congress. So we [...]

By SP parker|2009-04-03T01:03:37-07:00April 3rd, 2009|Backcountry Skiing|