NO Snow

We drove ten miles up the road to three snow parks and there's just a smidgen of snow, not enough to cross country ski. We were at 5200' just east of the three sisters which are deep in snow. I may have to skip "snow camping" and go winter camping without solid snow cover and hike instead of skiing, at least I can use summer tubular aluminum stakes and no stomping down a place to pitch the tent. I have still not tried out my new big agnes insulated air mattress. There is enough snow and ice to melt for water, but I'll be sure to boil it as its not exactly fresh. We have snow forecasted to last for a week, but no snow well I also don't need a deep winter bag, I'll take my marmot pinnacle instead.
Jim

It's snowing in the mountains down here. Mammoth is getting hammered and we're even getting snow in the SB Mountains east of LA.

Just got back from skiing to Dewey Point, Yosemite NP. Conditions were icy but a big new dump was coming literally as I left the parking lot. My timing was either perfect or terrible depending on how you look at it.

TR did you do it as a day trip?
Jim

I'm thinking perfect. The last time I was in Yosemite last Feb., we left as it was snowing like mad and the road to the South Gate was icy. A trip or two before that, I got rained on with mixed sleet and snow and before that one, Jim and I walked back in bad weather. Much better with sunshine and a clear road.

TR, have you ever gone up the tram at Palm Springs?

I'm thinking of doing that for a couple of days after these storms blow through.

A friend of mine was near the coast your in your state last weekend. He said it was 63 deg! I kinda envy it considering the normal high around here is in the low 20's ..... if we are lucky.

Tom D
I've been up that tram - OMG - I was terrified lookin down AND I"M A CLIMBER!!!!! That mountain top is so big I'd carry a GPS fer sure. It seems so parklike and benign that its easy to get lost up there, heard a guy did get lost and die up there and some other lost people found his camp and water supply.

Rucksack
There's a big difference between Oregon's coast and the high desert here in Central Oregon. The coast is a rain forest, whereas where I live is in the second largest "rain shadow" in the world. There can be forty feet of snow fifteen miles west of me and we get maybe 12 inches of precip a year here, but I do live at 3,200 feet above sea level.
Jim

Jim:

Here's that story from 2006 about the two tourists fresh off that tram in light clothes & tennis shoes lost for 3 nights on the mountain. They found the lost backpack of dead PCT hiker John Donovan, who died in 2005 doing the trail. The items in his pack saved them. That remains to me the most incredible story . . .

Two idiots saved by a dead hiker's gear. Irony at its worst or best, depending on your point of view.

I'll let you know how it is. I plan to go up there in a couple of weeks. I'll take a map and compass. Don't have a GPS.