awesome photo by Miles Weaver At Sierra Mountain Guides our mission is: Connecting people to the mountains. See what we did there? Who doesn’t appreciate a clever double entendre? When we thought it up, we loved how it speaks to having a positive effect on society,...
Happy spring Eastern Sierra skiers and riders! Hope you are enjoying the Sierra backcountry season so far. It's only around half way done. And with that in mind I would like this post to serve a few different purposes: 1) to help inform you about recent...
If you appreciate words, like I do, you may on occasion grieve the loss of them. Our culture changes and so too does our language. Handheld communication devices incentivize us to seek to conserve increasingly in demand stores of linguistic energy to create more time...
People are saying I have been talking shit too much, so I decided to write some shit down instead. Let's think of this as my periodic colon cleanse for the mind. It ain't pretty, but it is probably healthy. The thing is, we should all...
As the focus of the nation remains on presidential politics and the associated reality television drama that it represents, Yosemite National Park is quietly having their own opportunity to revamp its management program as they re-evaluate their Wilderness Stewardship Plan. It is not prominent in...
[caption id="attachment_6600" align="aligncenter" width="598"] artwork by Kellie Day Art[/caption] I quit drinking coffee this fall. Not forever, just for 5 weeks. I do this every fall. It is not easy as I have a mild addiction to the hot beverage. It is not the effects of...
Whosoever touches this gem shall possess the power of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak! Henceforth, you who read these words, shall become forevermore a human juggernaut! With respect to alpine rock climbing, the Sierra Nevada gets more and more amazing every year. Perhaps nowhere more so...
[caption id="attachment_5620" align="alignright" width="300"] food for thought[/caption] Being a self-described mountain pundit is not easy. It takes a deep commitment to reading the shameless spray of countless bloggers, the perseverance to wade through outdoor reportage by experts and dilettantes, trying to discern between the two, and the...
This fall I went to the first annual California Avalanche Workshop in South Lake Tahoe, California. It was a nicely run event with great turnout and some interesting presentations. For me, one of the more memorable ones was a session by Elyse Saugstad. Elyse is a professional skier and...
It was exactly a year ago that I stood ski guiding on a 45 degree virgin slope on the Antarctic Peninsula in a decision making quandary. Doug Stoup of Ice Axe Expeditions had put together another one of his outrageous cruise ship assisted Antarctic ski...
It's only "Snow-vember" in the High Sierra shade right now. Thanks to high pressure and record warm temps, the high sunny places have felt more like "Rocktober." Down in the desert, the conditions have been as dreamy and perfect in both sun and shade as they...
It was good that Alex had the wherewithal to contact me last week about a climb of Charlotte Dome over the Columbus Day weekend. We enjoyed comfortable temperatures, a kiss of westerlies, and all the gloriously textured and featured granite that one can dream of....
