“Getting into the Swing of Things” While we have been having some unseasonably warm weather lately here in the Eastern Sierra, without a single drop of precipitation in the month of January, the ice seems to be coming into its own. While the overall conditions are...
Lee Vining: Just had another really good weekend of ice climbing in Lee Vining Canyon with four stoked new ice climbers. This might have been the busiest weekend that I’ve ever seen out in LVC in the past several years”. The parking lot was completely full...
I just finished up a couple days of guiding out in Lee Vining Canyon this past weekend (Friday and Sunday) and was pleasantly surprised with the conditions we had! The approach is fully packed in and no longer requires snow shoes. Be careful on the...
One week later and our ice climbing venue in Lee Vining Canyon is starting to come alive, but it still has a decent way to go. “To be or not to be?” That is the question! Ice climbing and California, two words that not many people...
Main Wall Well it’s been a slow start to the winter out here in the Sierra but that’s changing as we speak. We’ve got a storm hitting that is expected to drop about 5 feet of new snow by the end Tuesday with another smaller storm...
The 2021 alpine climbing season is here. Over the last month Sierra Mountain Guides has conducted trips from Matterhorn Peak in the north to Lone Pine Peak and Mount Whitney in the south. A light winter means trail access is great to reach the sheltered...
Well folks it’s been a pretty dang good season for ice climbing here in the Eastern Sierra, if you went to Lee Vining that is! Just kidding June Lake had some stellar days too! As well as a couple other early season backcountry zones. This...
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...
[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...
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....
The Southeast Ridge of Mount Russell (III, 5.9) is a classic alpine gem of a route that gets relatively little traffic or mention by guidebook authors. There are 7 different guidebooks for climbing on Mount Russell in my library and the route is listed in...
