Backcountry Skiing -Southern California

Hoping for Mt. High this weekend.  First time.  Any recommendations?

Jeff J wrote:

Hoping for Mt. High this weekend.  First time.  Any recommendations?

It’s gonna be busy so get there really early. But it’s gonna be soooo good. For once it seems like mt high got more snow than Big bear 

Colin Sander wrote:

Tom  have you seen how deep it got in Wrightwood? I'm not sure how their plow operations work up there, but unless you are up there shoveling or moving snow I don't think you can really hate on it. Baldy was awesome yesterday even though only chair 1 opened. From what i saw from local's IG stories, the road past Wrightwood is super buried. Maybe cleared in another day or two? There's still plenty of time to score. 

I believe you are mistaken.   Mtn High is only 2.4 simple easy miles from Wrightwood.  Plowing that road is far more trivial than the road to Baldy.  With Baldy open on Sunday, then Mtn High should have been also.  Yet the road to Mtn High was still not open on MONDAY.

Furthermore,  The Baldy road is far more treacherous.  This morning is now 62 hours since the storm ended.  The simple Mtn High road is still closed.  This is the least competent road operation I have ever seen.

It appears that the state government thinks that their only duty is to provide free plowing for residents of the mountain towns.   However the other 30 million of us in this state do not think the taxpayers role is to provide a massively subsidized special benefit only to special people.  These are public roads.  The purpose of the state subsidizing these roads is supposed to be for everyone.  But the authorities seem to have been allowed to make up rules to interfere with public access, without providing any explanation.

Actually they probably think their FIRST duty is to provide free plowing to residents of the mountain towns. Which makes sense to me; trapped old age folks who have ran out of food and heating versus skiers and boarders from LA? I like to think I'd know which one I'd pick first.

Chris Owen wrote:

Actually they probably think their FIRST duty is to provide free plowing to residents of the mountain towns. Which makes sense to me; trapped old age folks who have ran out of food and heating versus skiers and boarders from LA? I like to think I'd know which one I'd pick first.

I was just typing something about those poorly chosen priorities.    My point is there is NO need to pick only the special residents who chose to live there, who are NOT in any danger.  The government should serve ALL the people.   And not just take the lazy way out by serving only some with a bloated sense of entitlement. The Baldy website said the road was open only to those who had a ski reservation, which keeps the area from being overrun with snow play people.  Since there is limited parking.  Something like that should be an option for the Mtn High area.

Anyone keen on meeting up for some backcountry skiing? I'm based in Pomona, have avalanche gear, and have a descent amount of backcountry experience from skiing Lassen National Park. I'm also into cross country skiing...

I don't have any backcountry friends in socal, but would love to make some. I have both weekend and midweek availability. Text me: 540.818.8895.

ryan climbs sometimes wrote:

get over yourself dude and go skiing 

Except the government has closed most of the roads out of incompetence.  It's not about me being special.  It's about why mtn residents deserve special subsidized benefits denied to the rest.  Why don't they pay the entire ? $100million cost of this special service out of their own pockets?

Dang, can we stop the arguing and just talk about how awesome this season is for SoCal? Here, I'll start. My wife and I skinned up the Wilson Toll Road on Sunday, since all the roads in to the mountains were closed. It was epic. As we skied down from the summit we had glimpses of Downtown LA and JPL. The last time I was able to ski Wilson was in 2011!

Yesterday, I took a day off and attempted to ski high into the mountains the only way I could think of, given the road closures and suspected avy danger: the Old Baldy Trail. I parked in a pullout, walked farther than usual to the trail head, and started skinning a couple hundred yards from the church. I broke trail to 9000 ft, fighting many bent-over trees, fallen branches, and death yucca below 6000 ft. Above that, it was glorious. However, we got tired after seven hours of uphill progress and quite cold in whiteout conditions, so we skied back down. The snow was heavy and not super fun to ski, but it was just so special seeing so much of it and keeping skis on until 4400 ft. I distinctly remember a friend asking me on his first Old Baldy Trail hike this past summer, "hey, does this route ever get enough snow to ski?" I said not unless another ice age hits :-)

Can anyone recommend retail shops in the L.A./O.C. area to purchase resort AND backcountry ski gear? 

Jeff J wrote:

Can anyone recommend retail shops in the L.A./O.C. area to purchase resort AND backcountry ski gear? 

No one stocks AT gear in LA AFAIK. I've been buying online, trying stuff on, and sending back whatever doesn't fit since 2008. I don't generally have a hard time with boot fitting, though, so YMMV. The cost of doing this is ~8 bucks per prepaid return shipping label if you use Backcountry.com and zero dollars if you use REI and go to a physical store. If you don't want to buy online, just wait until the next time you're in a ski town (not Big Bear or Wrightwood though)

Can anyone suggest a good pair of skins for SoCal snow?

Hamik Mukelyan wrote:

Dang, can we stop the arguing and just talk about how awesome this season is for SoCal? Here, I'll start. My wife and I skinned up the Wilson Toll Road on Sunday, since all the roads in to the mountains were closed. It was epic. As we skied down from the summit we had glimpses of Downtown LA and JPL. The last time I was able to ski Wilson was in 2011!

Yesterday, I took a day off and attempted to ski high into the mountains the only way I could think of, given the road closures and suspected avy danger: the Old Baldy Trail. I parked in a pullout, walked farther than usual to the trail head, and started skinning a couple hundred yards from the church. I broke trail to 9000 ft, fighting many bent-over trees, fallen branches, and death yucca below 6000 ft. Above that, it was glorious. However, we got tired after seven hours of uphill progress and quite cold in whiteout conditions, so we skied back down. The snow was heavy and not super fun to ski, but it was just so special seeing so much of it and keeping skis on until 4400 ft. I distinctly remember a friend asking me on his first Old Baldy Trail hike this past summer, "hey, does this route ever get enough snow to ski?" I said not unless another ice age hits :-)

way to go Hamik! 

Jeff J wrote:

Can anyone recommend retail shops in the L.A./O.C. area to purchase resort AND backcountry ski gear? 

Your closest option will probably be Mammoth Mountaineering up in Mammoth if you want to be able to try stuff on. Otherwise it's buy online, try it on, send stuff back. 

Gregory H wrote:

Can anyone suggest a good pair of skins for SoCal snow?

All skins work in all kinds of snow.  Quality and personal preference varies.

Any recommendations for lower angle terrain for this weekend?

Holy Fuck!  This is from today…we are legit going to be spring skiing in socal! 

if anyone is up for a tour, im local to big bear... and know some local gold low angle stuff. we got a crust early last night about 3" thick from freezing fog rain which is making this slab super unstable.

George Hayduke wrote:

As you mentioned its looking like a nice storm is coming in.. this forcast is for San G summit .ATM ita calling for some serious precip. 

In the San G drainage Backcountry skiing during a storm sounds like a great adventure. If you're looking for a partner, I'd be interested in joining you. I'm an experienced skier and can handle whatever the conditions throw at us. The forecast is calling for some serious precipitation, so it's a great opportunity to get some good turns in. I'm confident we can handle the challenging weather and have an amazing time. Let me know if you're still interested and we can discuss the details.

Hey all - I'm new to the southwest but desperate to get a bit of skiing in. Headed to j tree Sunday, how realistic would it be to get out Friday night (in a perfect world, sleep at the trailhead) and ski Saturday someplace in socal, within say 2 hours drive of 29 palms? I'll be solo, so not willing to go into any terrain. Any recommendations would be welcome!