Southern Sierra Conditions

Regional discussion and conditions reports for the Golden State. Please post partners requests and trip plans in the California Climbing Partners forum.
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Bob Burd
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Southern Sierra Conditions

by Bob Burd » Sat Jan 25, 2014 7:41 pm

With folks unhappy with the latest snow reports throughout the state, I thought it worthwhile to offer lemonade for those wondering what to do with their lemons. Outside the occasional snowshoe foray in the Tahoe or Yosemite area, I generally turn my attention away from the Sierra after November and switch to the desert or coast ranges. But this dry winter has left conditions in the Southern Sierra quite manageable and I've spent seven days over the past three weeks in that part of the range having a fine time.

South of SR178 all the way to the Tehachapis is pretty much open for business with no snow. Few roads, if any, are gated and one can enjoy hikes to any of the HPS peaks in the area and plenty of others as well.

North of SR178 and east of Sherman Pass there is also little snow. Paved Ninemile Canyon to Kennedy Meadows is open as always, but so is the dirt Chimney Peak Byway (Canebrake Rd) reaching to Kennedy Meadows from Canebrake Flat. Any of the summits on the Sierra Crest south of Haiwee Pass can be climbed with trivial or no snow. Lamont, Chimney Peak, Kennedy Peak are all snow-free as is all of Domelands Wilderness. Long Meadow CG is reachable for access to Domelands from the east. The road to Kennedy Meadows Campground is open. The Sherman Pass Rd heading west from Kennedy Meadows is snow free for the first three miles, with some ice and snow on the road after that. With chains or 4WD, one can drive up and over Sherman Pass even in a low clearance vehicle. Pine Mtn, Ball Mtn and other peaks up to 9,000ft can be climbed with minimal snow.

North of SR178 and west of Sherman Pass has more restrictions. SR190 is closed to through traffic at Quaking Aspen, though it would be almost trivial for the county to open the Western Sierra Hwy through to Johnsondale. M50 through California Hot Springs is also closed. SR155 over Greenhorn Summit is open, no snow or ice anywhere. Bohna, Sunday, Split, Black and others are easily accessible from Greenhorn Summit. The Kern River Valley Rd is open from Lake Isabella to Johnsondale, and an additional five miles of pavement towards Loyd Meadows. Sentinel Peak, Elephant Knob, Capitol Rock, Speas Ridge, all snow-free in the Johnsondale area. Sherman Pass road is snow-free to 8,000ft on the west side, some ice and snow after that, but again easy with chains or 4WD over the pass. Sherman Peak Trail had some snow, about 4-6", but mostly avoidable if not sticking to the trail and staying on the sunnier side of the ridge. The road to Poison Meadow and Big Meadow is open, but probably not snow-free all the way to Big Meadow. I tried to reach Sirretta Peak from Sherman Pass but gave up due to snow (with snow shoes it would have been doable) on the mostly north-facing slopes from that direction. There appears to be a fire in the Mountain Home area to the northwest, leaving the Kern Valley smokey at times.

What snow there is (about 4-6") is mostly well-consolidated except on the northern aspects. With cold nights well below freezing and short days, the snow lingers for a very long time. It appears to melt very slowly, and then not all the way to the ground, refreezing at night. The result is a hard icy layer by the time it gets to the last inch or so. Mostly it sublimates (ice to water vapor without liquid phase) leaving no mud of any kind. The dirt roads are dry where there is no snow, far different conditions than one finds in spring conditions with everything a sopping mess. Temperatures in the daytime have been about 50F at 7,000ft, 60F at 4,000ft. And no bugs.

Other than the stalwart residents, there is almost no one in the entire area. I went whole days without seeing a soul up there. Many of the campgrounds are closed, but there is ample free camping throughout the region.

Stegosaurus Fin in Domelands:
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View north from Sherman Peak (just under 10,000ft):
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Kennedy Meadows and Domelands from Ball Mtn (9,200ft):
Image

View north to Olancha and Whitney area from Ball Mtn:
Image

The following user would like to thank Bob Burd for this post
colinr, Jesus Malverde, sharperblue

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brichardsson

 
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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by brichardsson » Sun Jan 26, 2014 5:26 am

i just did a loop through the chimney peak area. there is minimal snow in the lamont, sawtooth, etc. areas. the most snow we found was on the xc ridge route between lamont and spanish needle, and it was easily bypassed. we did not carry or need microspikes or snowshoes.
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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by sharperblue » Sun Jan 26, 2014 4:47 pm

weekend of 11th-12th January we ran all the way to Mount Stewart via Crescent Meadow; the Kaweahs and GWD are all easily accessed (sadly) - just a bit of snow at Valhalla, but no snowshoes req'd at all

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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by artirm » Tue Jan 28, 2014 2:19 am

sharperblue wrote:weekend of 11th-12th January we ran all the way to Mount Stewart via Crescent Meadow; the Kaweahs and GWD are all easily accessed (sadly) - just a bit of snow at Valhalla, but no snowshoes req'd at all


Where you the first party on Stewart this year?

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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by thegib » Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:02 pm

A few years ago I climbed Stewart in April and couldn't find any earlier entries - and the register went back to '88. Obviously many may have simply not found or bothered with the register, but, I was feeling kinda smug.

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sharperblue

 
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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by sharperblue » Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:12 pm

artirm wrote:
sharperblue wrote:weekend of 11th-12th January we ran all the way to Mount Stewart via Crescent Meadow; the Kaweahs and GWD are all easily accessed (sadly) - just a bit of snow at Valhalla, but no snowshoes req'd at all


Where you the first party on Stewart this year?


no idea; didn't bother, but certainly yes from the West; we would have seen tracks from Hamilton Lakes otherwise. From the East i assume so as well - although you never know who may have tackled an epic journey like that given the excellent weather!

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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by Jarpup » Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:38 pm

Has anyone climbed the MR on Whitney recently? If so, how were conditions?
Given how bad Shasta looks right now, the long drive south might be worth it.

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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by Dave Daly » Fri Feb 07, 2014 10:29 pm

Paved Ninemile Canyon to Kennedy Meadows is open as always...


Good to hear. Planning on drinking plenty of "lemonade" for a ride up there over Presidents Day weekend.
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Bob Burd
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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by Bob Burd » Fri Feb 07, 2014 10:56 pm

I found so little snow there only a week ago, but the other day there was snow on Cone Peak down to about 4,000ft. So much to love about California...

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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by jckid » Wed May 07, 2014 10:36 pm

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd ask here. Has anyone been in the area near Olancha Pass recently? I'm wondering about current conditions following the recent snow.

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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by jdmorris » Wed May 07, 2014 10:47 pm

I was on Moses and N. Maggie last weekend and there were a couple feet of snow on steep north facing slopes above 9k' but zero snow on south facing slopes up to at least 10.5k'. It just snowed down there yesterday, again, although snow on sun lit slopes isn't lasting for long with longer warm and sunny days. I wouldn't expect to see any significant snow near Olancha Pass.

These web cams should help you get a very good idea of how much snow there is at various elevations and aspects:
http://ssgic.cr.usgs.gov/dashboards/WebCam.htm

JD

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Re: Southern Sierra Conditions

by labgloves » Wed May 07, 2014 11:13 pm

I was in the Domeland wilderness this past weekend. There was no snow to be found there at all. Looking north, as JD says there was no to very little snow visible on southern aspects.

A zoom to the south face of Olancha can be found here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/labgloves ... 4485675446

It looks pretty dry, but I expect you could still find some drifts of snow in shady areas. Everything is melting fast, even up high ...


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