We had a great time of ski mountaineering tours in the southern Eastside Sierra mountains in California, USA - this year late April / early May. Gi came all the way from Germany (his fourth or fifth spring-ski visit). Craig + Eric made the 7-hour drive from Utah. Several long-time ski partners made the really long (? 14+ hours ?) drive from Seattle.

southern Eastside Sierra delivered: good snow cover, stable sunny weather, fun turns on nicely-softened corn snow, spectacular peaks, quiet valley, fun exploring places not in the guidebooks. I’ve been there for spring skiing lotsa years, was glad to get back there again—and I hope some future springtime again.

what made this trip special for me:
* long 35-40 degree runs new for me, and long runs repeated from previous trips.
* first ski descent of a 4000-meter peak.
* hanging with old friends in the pleasant valley unlike any place near skiing in Europe.
* exploring new skiing places.
* bouldering/climbing on rock different from in Europe.

Ken

see also
* report with links to GPS + photos
* forum North American selected photos
* more photos from 2005 Sierra spring trip

I say “Eastside” because it’s a special little-populated part of California, next to Nevada - that’s off away from the big (west side) coastal cities. I say “southern” because I’m excluding the Tahoe area. We were based around Bishop.

comparing southern Eastside Sierra with northern French Alps:

* Sierras get more hours + days of sunshine, and more intense sunshine, for quicker better transformation of snow for corn skiing. Because much farther south than the Alps, roughly the latitude of north Africa.

* access: though similar in overall size of skiable terrain, Sierras have much less road access, and the roads are more likely to be rough dirt.

* almost no glaciers or crevasses, perhaps a few rimayes/bergshrunds, or sometimes seasonal “moats”.

* only one place for lift-served skiing (but it’s big and can be rather fun and normally operates for downhill skiing well into May, often into June), but the lifts access downhill skiing only (not any ski tours).

* refuges and huts: almost none. But some great places to hike in and pitch a tent on the snow for a few nights and ski different runs each day. And some great “ski backpacking” traverses for those willing and able to carry snow-camping gear across passes.

* ski touring traffic: mostly rather light except sometimes on a handful of (justly) famous runs. Because the southern Eastside is so far from San Francisco (with road passes still closed in springtime), and far enough from Los Angeles (which though less far than SF, doesn’t have hardly any ski-mountaineering skiers anyway).

Ken

Why I’ve been skiing in France rather than Sierra in early May more years lately:
. . . (previous visit to Eastside California was 2005)

* to explore and to achieve goals to a “density” comparable to what I had already from so many previous years visiting the Sierras.

* more people and ski partners I know in France.

* I like the road-cycling better around Savoie. Way way more paved roads, older more interesting roads, more variety of roadside scenery than Eastside.

* Paved roads so I can drive to ski trailheads without renting a special High-Clearance (perhaps 4WD) vehicle suitable for rough dirt roads. Ski lifts that provide access to ski tours, not just downhill. Refuges/huts close to great ski tours, without hauling up my own tent + stove + sleeping bag.

* early May ski tours in France (? versus Switzerland ?) haven’t seemed all that crowded to me. Anyway if I’m out there on a crevassed glacier, seeing other skiers around makes me feel a little safer.

Ken

Okay now your just showing of, “Skiing in May” not to much of that this season in the Alps Have heard from friends that the snow pack in the US this year was just a tad deeper than in the Alps......

If your into your road cycling and you fancy an amazing day out on the bike I can strongly recommend the following Grand Fondo:

http://www.maratona.it/en/

This takes place in the Dolomites at the beginning of July.  I rode the long route a couple of years back and am seriously thinking about entering again next year.  You can of course ride the route on your own, but the experience of doing it on closed roads with 9000 bike crazy Italians is something else.

Great TRs, I’m looking through the photos on Picasa. I like the “hidden couloir”, has a very grand feel to it.

May here has been a bit useless. I would have gone out but am still not able to do any sport so the season will end before I can get any more turns in. Temperatures have been on average +3C more than normal in the Northern Alps. Still some ski touring going on in the Southern Alps and Ecrins.