High Sierra Topix

The rope tows were taken out long ago, around 15 years I think. It is now a major snow-play area, sledding, tubing and such. Provides us with lots of medical calls. I believe this winter the concessionair is going to re-open the snackbar/deli and rent X-C ski equipment.

I also read that the NPS had some money put aside to groom some trails at Wolverton this year?

Yes, as part of the concessionair's permit to operate at Wolverton they will be grooming trails. I do not know what type of grooming machinery they will be using. What rumors i've heard is that it might be a grooming sled towed from a snowmobile. Not the greatest grooming technique, but better than nothing. It would be nice if they groom a nice skate track.

I can wait to get some turns in at kw too but have the cheapo midweek pass and this whole holiday period is black out dates. So next Tuesday.

Interesting talking about Wolverton. Last couple years I've been wanting to drive down to do a couple things. Some snow shoeing out to a few spots to take some LF images of sequoia trunks in snow. Also want to do some short ski videos skiing fluff through the sequoias. Thus want to be up there after a cold storm. I have some bc skis but I'm disgusted with them as they are not much fun in powder. So would probably put my old Alpine Trekkers on my old Powderkarves and skin up a few of the small hills in the grove I've checked out there. Now the problemo is I need another powder skier in order to switch off between holding the camera and making turns.

...David

I have the mid-week pass too, but my days off are Thur-Fri so it works out great. Weekends and holidays are too crowded anyway!

Let me know when your in the area, I could help you with the camera. You might also want to consider the Grant Grove area for cool Sequoia shots. It's a shorter drive for you coming from the Bay area.

Wed Dec 28 17:18:48 2005

Hourly data from Ward Mountain near Lake Tahoe (Elevation 8637 Ft)
Collected by the National Weather Service - Reno NV

MN DY Hour Temp | Wind |
av mx mn | Dir Speed Gst |
12 28 1700 24 27 23 243 75 112
12 28 1600 25 25 24 237 80 105
12 28 1500 26 27 25 239 81 116
12 28 1400 27 28 26 249 86 118
12 28 1300 29 33 27 247 75 119
12 28 1200 30 31 29 247 73 117
12 28 1100 30 31 29 230 57 83
12 28 1000 28 30 28 237 52 70
12 28 0900 28 28 27 242 54 78
12 28 0800 28 29 28 242 59 87
12 28 0700 29 30 28 245 58 77
12 28 0600 31 32 30 242 58 75
12 28 0500 33 34 32 238 64 88
12 28 0400 33 34 33 240 60 77
12 28 0300 32 33 32 241 52 71
12 28 0200 32 32 32 253 53 71
12 28 0100 32 32 32 253 55 72
12 28 0000 32 32 32 247 51 61
12 27 2300 32 32 32 247 59 74
12 27 2200 32 32 32 249 61 74
12 27 2100 32 32 32 245 66 79
12 27 2000 32 32 32 250 65 82
12 27 1900 32 33 31 247 62 82
12 27 1800 32 32 31 245 60 73
12 27 1700 31 32 31 246 59 77
12 27 1600 30 31 29 251 64 80
12 27 1500 29 30 29 243 64 82
12 27 1400 29 30 29 246 66 86
12 27 1300 28 29 28 245 61 74
12 27 1200 27 28 26 241 53 71
12 27 1100 26 26 25 239 52 73
12 27 1000 25 25 24 242 53 69
12 27 0900 24 24 23 242 53 69
12 27 0800 23 24 23 242 51 67
12 27 0700 23 23 22 246 53 69
12 27 0600 22 22 21 250 52 69
12 27 0500 21 22 21 252 61 79
12 27 0400 21 21 20 245 58 78
12 27 0300 20 21 20 244 54 69
12 27 0200 20 20 19 254 48 61
12 27 0100 19 20 19 250 39 47
12 27 0000 20 20 19 248 35 44
12 26 2300 21 23 20 247 30 36
12 26 2200 21 22 21 251 36 46
12 26 2100 21 22 21 247 40 51
12 26 2000 21 22 21 246 35 48
12 26 1900 22 22 21 245 39 53
12 26 1800 22 22 21 245 38 50
12 26 1700 22 22 21 244 48 70
12 26 1600 22 23 22 247 51 71
12 26 1500 23 23 22 252 58 81
12 26 1400 23 24 23 252 58 82
12 26 1300 23 24 23 249 59 77
12 26 1200 23 24 23 249 46 62
12 26 1100 22 25 22 246 46 60
12 26 1000 22 25 21 243 48 61
12 26 0900 21 23 21 246 48 61
12 26 0800 21 26 21 258 47 66
12 26 0700 22 22 21 252 52 73
12 26 0600 22 22 21 256 4 58
12 26 0500 24 26 22 260 25 64
12 26 0400 26 26 25 235 55 83
12 26 0300 26 27 26 234 54 74
12 26 0200 26 27 26 241 44 59
12 26 0100 26 26 25 239 48 63
12 26 0000 26 26 26 245 48 66
12 25 2300 25 26 25 244 37 59
12 25 2200 25 25 24 249 38 45
12 25 2100 25 38 25 248 46 55
12 25 2000 26 26 25 246 47 61
12 25 1900 26 27 26 246 53 65
12 25 1800 27 28 27 243 57 76
12 25 1700 28 54 27 244 62 85
12 25 1600 30 50 29 245 68 90


A bit breezy up high. Should be some huge cornices building. Let's be careful out there!

There's a Ward Mtn near Tahoe? Man, there must be 2-3 Ward Mtns in the Sierra then. Crazy...

West side of the lake. (Tahoe).

skibum >>>"...Let me know when your in the area, I could help you with the camera. You might also want to consider the Grant Grove area for cool Sequoia shots. It's a shorter drive for you coming from the Bay area."

Sounds good. Lets keep it in mind for later this winter. Unfortunately I haven't carefully checked out locations to make runs at that actually have good numbers of giant sequoia trees along fall lines. Something I thought about doing, but that last time I was in either Giant Forest or Grant Grove, did not bother climbing up and down the slopes to nail something down. The area behind Wilsonia has what looks like some nicely pitched slopes on the topo but I'm not familiar with it. And there is one good sized hill east of the Congress Grove at Giant Forest that looks promising too. It would be nice to find a few slopes with lots of big trees for some distance down a slope. I'm a strong powder skier in dense trees so the idea of capturing some skiing right beside a bunch of big trees in fluff would be great.

Hey Skibum!


Kirkwood Snow Report
Monday, January 2, 2006 - 12:30PM
alternate print version report
Weather
Temperature 26 °F Wind light
Skies Snowing
Today's Forecast - snow

Snow Stats (snow totals in inches)
Last 24 hours 26-38" Season Total Range 141-266"
Last 48 hours 38-78" Base Depth 78-150"
Storm Total 68-110"

Surface Conditions
powder (lots of it!), machine groomed and skier packed powder
70% Trails Open
29 Trails Groomed

Road Conditions
Hwy 88 West from Tahoe: Open, 4WD or Chains
Hwy 88 East from Jackson: Open, 4WD or Chains

110" storm total, that's, uh, lesee, ALMOST 10 FEET! Still snowing!
I'm guessing the Spur is going to close for avo control sometime soon.