SoCal Snow 2012

by **Rob** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 3:30 pm

Had some pretty darn good sking yesterday in the San Gabriel mountains, in the vicinity of Mt. Waterman. The snow depth is marginal, but in the north facing spots that still had a layer of ice left from the storm a couple weeks ago, it could be 12-18" deep, so if you know how to be careful, it's fun. I only bottomed out once, but it was on a steep spot where I dug too deep.

12/13/2011

Angeles Crest Highway is open to Islip Saddle, and there is about a foot of snow covering the highway beyond the gate, so cross country skiing, or snow shoeing would be ideal right now. Also this is a good time to hike Mt. Williamson in the snow, or take the PCT southward to Islip Peak.

Anyone got a report from the Baldy area?

by **Rob** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:23 am

Alright, back from another day in the San Gabriel mountains!

So today, it was about the same as yesterday, only sunnier. Overnight temps are holding well below freezing and in the daytime it's only in the forties, so not a lot of melting yet (except the south facing slopes, of course). From what I have gathered, it appears the last storm dumped the most snow in the northeastern part of the San Gabriels (Mt. Waterman), and not as much in the San Bernardino range, nor did Mt. Baldy get very much. My info refers to the areas accessed from Angeles Crest Highway, so that's all I know.

There was a couple of snowboarders on the hill today, but plenty of space for everyone. Here's a shot from today, to show how bad it was. I know those are sloppy turns, but so were my legs...kinda outta shape. It seems that skinning uphill, and sking, uses muscles that don't get used all summer.

Just a piddly little hill...this is at the bottom.

Got a new pair of bindings, and they seem to work well.
Marker "Dukes"...perect for slackcountry slackers like me! Had a little problem with shifting to alpine mode, because of ice build up, but found that a nylon brush cleans it out. A little rain-x might help to repel the ice too. It would be a hassle in a blizzard, dealing with iced up bindings...no problem on a sunny day though.

By the way, for those of you who snowboard, or snow shoe...it is considered bad form to walk in skier, or splitboard skin tracks. Not one of my big complaints, but in real backcountry places like Mammoth or such, some people get very upset about people ruining their tracks.
Peace

by **Princess Buttercup** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:44 am

Sweet, Rob! Have to admit being a mite jealous with the minimal coverage out my door here...

I also got the 'Dukes on my first pair of skis, and while you can bomb in them, the whole on/off thing for changing between skin/ski mode is mega-annoying after a while. Also, the brushing off the snow to get the whole binding back into the track gets old pretty quickly. I actually bent one of the bars at the toe of the binding from trying to be quick about the change and force it. <oich>

Keep getting out there!!

-L

by **simonov** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:09 pm

Rob wrote:By the way, for those of you who snowboard, or snow shoe...it is considered bad form to walk in skier, or splitboard skin tracks. Not one of my big complaints, but in real backcountry places like Mammoth or such, some people get very upset about people ruining their tracks.

Never heard that before.

By what rationale does this upset people? Aesthetics?

by **Rob** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:47 pm

simonov wrote:
Rob wrote:By the way, for those of you who snowboard, or snow shoe...it is considered bad form to walk in skier, or splitboard skin tracks. Not one of my big complaints, but in real backcountry places like Mammoth or such, some people get very upset about people ruining their tracks.

Never heard that before.

By what rationale does this upset people? Aesthetics?

Well, because skiers and splitboarders reuse the same track over and over to do laps on a slope, so when someone walks on the track, it leaves deep footprints that make the skinning really bumpy, as opposed to very smooth and easy. Postholing on steep tracks can make them unusable anymore for skinning because we need as much flat surface as possible for traction.

Hey MT, thanks for your input! I have to say, I was pretty unimpressed about the ice problem on the Dukes. Yesterday I rubbed some Zadoz on the problem area, and it seemed to work to keep the ice from sticking, so I think that might be a solution, or wax, or silicon spray, I'll find something that will work. I sure like clicking into solid bindings

The following user would like to thank Rob for this post
Blair, Princess Buttercup

by **Blair** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:29 pm

Rob....YES....

This problem has more prevalence everywhere else (because were in socal and dont get much snow) with hikers, snowshoers hiking in the skin track. It does no good for the hiker/snowshoer because they just posthole anyways due to their weight, and it feck's up the skin track which had been established BEFORE you got there. Its much easyer for someone to establish a bootpack and after a couple of passes, boom theres a stomped out way to go for those not on planks of any kind.

It can become a very heated situ when pepe postholer trashes up a established skin track set up by skiiers/splitboarders when they glide on up to the jerks who just made the last hour skinning much more difficult than is should be.

Is it that hard to just respect someone elses style, and educate yourself on backcountry etiquette? More and more n00bs show up each year with no clue and create problems for everyone due to lack of knowledge.

end rant

by **Blair** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:34 pm

OT, Deb went up for a skin in San G area yesterday and says there was BS coverage.....we need more snow

Baldy is suppose to open the begginers area saturday, its looking way boney up there on thunder.

Could be a late winter

by **Rob** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:27 pm

Blair wrote:OT, Deb went up for a skin in San G area yesterday and says there was BS coverage.....we need more snow

Baldy is suppose to open the begginers area saturday, its looking way boney up there on thunder.

Could be a late winter

Well, guess what? ...the 10 day forecast said it would be sunny through next week. Hmmmm......then it started raining outside, hard. Now I look at the Mt. Wilson cam, and it's snowing up there! And this from the Mt. Baldy website....

SNOW & LIFTS REPORT (Dec 15, 02:09PM)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well its snowing hard right now , coming in from the N/NE. We're looking forward to opening up on Saturday. We'll update later with some snow accumulation totals. bd..

by **x15x15** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:34 pm

skiiers/splitboarders when they glide on up to the jerks

pretty harsh, don't ya think? Ignorance and Jerk don't go hand in hand... i have never run into jerks, just ignorant folks who don't quite get how to go with the flow. all, and i mean ALL of the offenders were happy to learn and not do it again...

btw, i feel the same way when wannabes get in my way on the rock! so i do understand.

by **simonov** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:55 pm

Blair wrote:Rob....YES....

This problem has more prevalence everywhere else (because were in socal and dont get much snow) with hikers, snowshoers hiking in the skin track.

I think it's prevalent because hikers and climbers have no clue at all that it's bothering you people.

Generally, on a lot of local mountains the routes up are shared by skiers, snowshoers and crampon-and-ice-axers, so there's going to be lots of trampling in the ski ruts.

The following user would like to thank simonov for this post
artrock23

by **Deb** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 12:47 am

Travis and I skinned pretty close to South Fork Meadow yesterday. Coverage was super dry 2" - 8" with occasional rock/stick grabbing your skins. Although it was not the best conditions, I loved it. Especially the 3 stream crossings in our skis! Pray for some warmth then some wet stuff!

by **tkoooooooooo** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:42 am

Hmm, I must say I understand the frustration that skiiers have when their track is screwed up. I only take issue in places where there is an established ski track where there is normally a trail, and it's the easiest place to hike, or ski regardless of whether there are previous tracks. I don't think it's improper to trample over ski track when it's the easiest hiking/shoeing terrain to begin with. To operate on a first-come-first-serve basis in the backcountry is a bit silly to me. If the best route happens to be taken by a skiier first, I don't think it means that all other travelers have to hit the steeper, more difficult slope in order to keep the ski track pristine. After all they are already having a much easier time traveling than someone lugging around snowshoes. An example is the Baldy trail. Most of the route has good places for skiiers to avoid the high foot traffic areas. But there are certain areas where skiiers end up on the trail because it's the only easy way through.

I do agree that if there are reasonable alternatives, hikers aught not ruin ski paths, as stated previously, it's not even helpful for a hiker to use a ski path (except mentally to have a line to thoughtlessly follow). I've been yelled at before for hiking in the "ski path" when it was the only reasonable way up the gully. In which case, the skiier was the jerk for selfishly yelling.

Anyways, with that said, I'm excited to do some hiking in the snow. I'm gonna ruin all the ski tracks with snow angels and snowmen!

by **simonov** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:09 pm

Deb wrote:Travis and I skinned pretty close to South Fork Meadow yesterday. Coverage was super dry 2" - 8" with occasional rock/stick grabbing your skins. Although it was not the best conditions, I loved it. Especially the 3 stream crossings in our skis! Pray for some warmth then some wet stuff!

Now here's a good example. I'm pretty sure that above Poopout Hill you skinned along the summer trail route. Where are the snowshoers and hikers supposed to walk when there are already a set of ski tracks along the trail?

by **96avs01** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:44 pm

simonov wrote:
Deb wrote:Travis and I skinned pretty close to South Fork Meadow yesterday. Coverage was super dry 2" - 8" with occasional rock/stick grabbing your skins. Although it was not the best conditions, I loved it. Especially the 3 stream crossings in our skis! Pray for some warmth then some wet stuff!

Now here's a good example. I'm pretty sure that above Poopout Hill you skinned along the summer trail route. Where are the snowshoers and hikers supposed to walk when there are already a set of ski tracks along the trail?

Nobody said they can't put in an adjacent track, just please avoid travel directly ON an established skin track. I snowshoed with my solid board for a couple of years before getting a splitboard...avoiding an established skin track is not difficult.

The following user would like to thank 96avs01 for this post
Blair

by **Blair** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 6:12 pm

Thank you 96avs01! AVOIDING A ESTABLISHED SKIN TRACK IS NOT DIFFICULT

Where are the hikers and snowshoers suppost to go? Anywhere off the skin track DUDE. Dont even try to tell me that the skin track is taking up too much space on the trail

I have had 3 instances in the mountains that my party have rolled up on snowshoers, snowboarders and hikers hiking on (destroying) our established skin track. ALL 3 times it was on a fire road. PLENTY of room to set up a separate boot pack. On two of these occasions, when we caught up with the said party, we watched them. They were all over the road, postholing, laboring and bumbling about. They couldnt figure out that if they followed eachother in the same footprints it would be WAY easyer.

Its just RUDE and STUPID. As I mentioned before, hiking along a skin track does the hiker/snowshoer NO BENIFIT because the posthole just as bad as they would if hiking on the virgin snow to the sides. The weight displacement on skis and splits is much different than your foot directly on the snow. IVE DONE IT! Before I skiied, I walked in a skin track before, then saw that I was getting no help from the skin track and its illusion of easyer passage. Then I was educated by skiiers that thats bad etiquette to do this as well.

Example...
Its like you go play golf, get paired up with a random other player. You tee off, he is talking on his cell phone. Hitting into the green, he is rattling around w his clubs. Once reaching the green, he doesnt fix his ball mark, and walks all over your line to putt. Are you going to let him do that for 17 more holes or are you going to EDUCATE them how it works? For the benifit of everyone to have a nicer place to play!

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