It’s past mid-April, temperatures are warming and wildflowers are blooming higher up the mountains. The snow cone season is coming to an end. Snow events happen occasionally in April, and in fact it snowed an inch or so earlier this week, but the chances for a large snow event are rapidly diminishing. Now is a…
Tag: winter
Clouds Rest Winter
This is the third a series of posts on winter adventure in Yosemite. The first post was about Mount Watkins and the second about Glacier Point and Sentinel Dome. I have been to Clouds Rest in all seasons except winter and took the opportunity this past March to visit the mountain in genuine winter conditions…
Watkins Winter
In my opinion Mount Watkins has one of the best views in the Yosemite Valley region. Unlike some of the more famous vistas which have a road or a designated trail leading to them (and associated crowds), Mount Watkins has neither and this largely explains its relative obscurity both in summer and especially in winter….
The Science of Snow Cone
The “Snow Cone” is somewhat of a mythical event to experience. A snow on Cone Peak is not rare in itself, but rather the ability to experience and capture a fresh snow. Most years have snow on Cone Peak, and sometimes multiple times per year, but as I will describe, they are virtually always difficult to…
Junipero Serra Peak
It’s fairly rare for a modified arctic cold front to sweep into central California. However, in early December a cold, dry continental airmass overspread the region. With the cold air in place, attention turned to the possibility of low elevation snow on local mountains. All we needed was moisture. It seemed like wishes would come…
Winter Alta & Moose Lake Snowshoe
I had a great memories of a climb of Winter Alta in 2011 so I was excited to come back and this time I ventured further to remote Moose Lake (see route on Strava here). The view from Winter Alta is simply outstanding. Overlooking Moose Lake and the Great Western Divide, it seems as if…
Mount Silliman Snowshoe Climb
Mount Silliman rises 11,188 feet with over 4,500 feet of vertical in a short distance from Lodgepole Visitor Center in Sequoia National Park. As its position is to the west of the main concentration of peaks along or near the Sierra Crest, the summit provides an amazing vantage of the range from the Yosmite high…
Leor Pantilat's Adventures