Will There Be Crust Skiing In The Sierra During Early June?

I've never been to the Sierra and I want to do high alpine crust skiing
during the first two weeks of June. Any C.A. folks know if it's
possible this season. Also any recommendations where to ski would be
appreciated. For example the names of passes, or ranges.

Two things need to happen for good crust skiing in the Sierra:
1) It needs to stop raining. This is, by far, the wettest spring I can
ever remember in the Sierra Nevada. It's getting silly. Supposedly, by
Friday, the long-term ridge of high pressure will finally end all this
wetness. But I've heard this before. Snow level right now is above
9,000. (for instance, as of 9 pm this evening, the temperature at 8,200
ft was 39 degrees.)

2) We need some warm days and cold nights. The catch is that by the end
of May, the cold nights (below freezing) start to get few and far
between. Without them, there will still be crust, but it doesn't last
long into the day and is confined to very high, tree-less alpine areas,
with the lower, forested elevations being mostly mush during the day.

So, to answer your question, yes, there will be high alpine crust
skiing during the first two weeks of June, but if the nights don't get
cold, it could be somewhat limited by then.

Don't know what your specific interests are, but I can try to steer you
in the right direction. You can e-mail directly via the Far West Nordic
Ski Association. (farwestnordic.org).

Mark

wrote:
I've never been to the Sierra and I want to do high alpine crust
skiing
during the first two weeks of June. Any C.A. folks know if it's
possible this season. Also any recommendations where to ski would be
appreciated. For example the names of passes, or ranges.

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In article .com,
wrote:
I've never been to the Sierra and I want to do high alpine crust skiing
during the first two weeks of June. Any C.A. folks know if it's
possible this season. Also any recommendations where to ski would be
appreciated. For example the names of passes, or ranges.


_ It has been a bad year for the corn season. All these late
season storms really muck up the corn cycle. It looks like
the weather is finally clearing off, but unless we get some
cold nights to freeze up and fully set the crust conditions
can be at best miserable at worst truly dangerous.

_ I would suggest going as high as possible and getting a
very early start. Plan for your skiing day to be over by
10am for crust skating. Starting before sunrise is not a
bad idea either. Sonora Pass ( highway 108 ) is supposed
to open on May 27th and there are some high relatively flat
areas near the top of the pass that would be fun skating.

_ If you are on the east side, then from that side there
is skiable terrain you can get to from where ever 120 is
closed, however there isn't much flat stuff until you
can get up to the east entrance to Yosemite.

_ Booker C. Bense






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Booker Bense wrote
_ If you are on the east side, then from that side
there is skiable terrain you can get to from where
ever 120 is closed

If highway 120 is open up to about 2900m / 9500 ft by the Tioga Pass Resort,
I would try investigating the area north around Saddlebag Lake for some
moderate terrain for possible corn-snow skating. I skied classic there one
morning -- kinda pretty skiing below Mt Conness and North Peak. Or could
skate on or along the road from TPR up to Tioga Pass into Dana Meadows --
I've seen skate tracks in Dana Meadows before the road was plowed up to the
pass (? above TPR the road might be around 6% grade and its only 150
vertical meters up to the pass ?). Or way south, I heard the road was open
pretty high up into Rock Creek.

On the Eastside with money to spend, there's also the option of _not_
waiting for 120 to be opened, by calling the Tioga Pass Resort and sleeping
up there a night or two or more -- in which case they can normally transport
you up there on the closed road.

But note the altitudes we're talking about: 2900m and higher for Tioga Pass
Resort area, like 3000m for Rock Creek (? 2700m for the Mt Rose highway flat
?) -- that calls for a significant acclimatization period at least for me --
especially to handle the exertion level required for skating. I find that
taking acetazolamide which my doctor prescribed helps me, but it's still
pretty hard to skate that high the first two days or so. Which leads to . .
..

a Sierra Visitor's advice to other skating visitors:
Do not imagine that you're going to be doing fun backcountry corn-snow
skating on the majority of the days of a single-week spring holiday. Make
sure you have something else in mind to do for the majority of the days of
the week: fishing the mountain lakes, visiting Death Valley or the
bristlecone pines or ghost towns, rock climbing/boudering, downhill skiing.
Or ski mountaineering, for those with the skills + judgment + experience (or
the money to hire a local guide) -- fits real well with backcountry skating
with its requirements for altitude acclimatization, backcountry safety
capability, and current knowledge of snowpack conditions.

Of the backcountry mountaineering skiers I met and talked with in the
southern Eastside Sierras during my visit this spring, the majority were
also enthusiastic groomed-track XC ski skaters: two from Seattle/Methow (16+
hours drive), four (including two who were serious racers) from Salt Lake
City (8 hours drive), one from Germany (back for his third time skiing in
the southern Eastside, and we skated the Engadin Skimarathon course together
back in February), surprisingly even one skier from Palo Alto (and zero from
the Tahoe area). I've done fun + great ski mountaineering tours with most of
them.

But not one of them had brought any skating skis with them, or showed the
slightest interest when I mentioned the possibility of backcountry skating
in the Sierras.

Ken