Sierra Journal

Expect a Banner Wildflower Season in Sierra Nevada

Time to break out the macro lens (or, at least, flip the little dial to macro mode) to get those beautiful close-ups of our famous Sierra Nevada wildflowers.

The SF Chronicle is predicting a banner wildflower season in the region due to the spring's unusually cool, wet weather. This has primed the region for warmer, drier weather when the flowers will bloom in all their glory.

From SF Chronicle:

Nature lovers could be in for a treat soon at Lake Tahoe. Botanists are hoping several weeks of unusually cool, wet spring weather will make for a banner wildflower season in the Sierra Nevada.

"Things around the basin are just getting started. Now that it's going to warm up, it's going to happen fast," said Karen Wiese, author of "Sierra Nevada Wildflowers."

While some flowers won't start to bloom until October, the best time for wildflower viewing in the region is typically between now and the end of July, she said.

Lupine and camas lilies already are cropping up in Hope Valley, about 20 miles south of Lake Tahoe. In a couple of weeks, nearby Carson Pass will be another splendid place to stop and smell the flowers, Wiese added.

Death on Half Dome "Cables Route" in Yosemite

The Cables Route is the standard day hike up Half Dome. It's an all-day affair and is no joke - particularly in inclement weather conditions. Yet another reminder to be careful out there - even on seemingly easy terrain. Weather can turn even the tamest of routes into a nightmarish epic.

From LA Times:

Late Saturday afternoon, when Manoj Kumar fell to his death while attempting a descent of Half Dome within Yosemite National Park, there prevailed what a park spokesman described as a "perfect storm" of circumstances.

Saturday is the busiest day of the week on a cabled ladder system that enables climbers to negotiate the 425-foot sheer granite dome to and from its summit.

But by early afternoon it had become cold and blustery, with rain and fog and sporadic hail. Many hikers had aborted their climbs but some had not. The granite and the cables had become slippery. Some hikers froze in fear. Others tried scurrying around on the outside edges of the cables.

An investigation continues to determine exactly what caused Kumar, 40, a Northern California software engineer, to let go and plummet nearly 200 feet, but he might have been on the outside edge of one of the cables.

After Kumar fell, 41 climbers were assisted in what the park called a "controlled evacuation" that lasted until dark.

Scott Gediman, a park spokesman, said Saturdays can be tricky even in good weather because it gets so crowded. It's not atypical to have 70 hikers on the three-foot-wide cable system by early afternoon. There's no scripted order within the cables, although most hikers ascend on one side and descend on the other. 

Tioga Road Plowed to Eastern Yosemite Gate

I just spoke to a nice ranger at the Lee Vining ranger station. They informed me that Tioga Road is indeed open all the way up to the eastern gate at Tioga Pass.

That means Mt. Dana is accessible for the annual backcountry skiing pilgrimage to the Dana Couloir. It also means I'm headed for the mountains this weekend.

Sonora Pass Set to Open May 22

CalTrans crews are no doubt busy making their way closer and closer to the various mountain passes as the season's snow recedes.

They've official staked out May 22 as the day Sonora Pass will open. That gets all of us Bay Area folks one step closer to Eastern Sierra ski mountaineering. I've been champing at the bit ever since I got the new Eastern Sierra backcountry ski guide for the area published just a few months ago. 

I really haven't explored the Sonora Pass area much yet, but sure as sh*t plan to this year. And of course I can't wait for them to plow to the eastern gate at Tioga Pass - making Mt. Dana, the Dana Couloir and Ellery Bowl accessible.

I snapped the above photo last season during early summer when storms closed the passes and stranded me on the east side. Think I'll use this as my stock image for all posts about pass conditions.

Via MyMotherLoad:

According to Spokesperson Lisa Balcom Caltrans is hoping to open both Sonora and Ebbetts passes Friday, May 22.

Balcom commented that Caltrans work crews started clearing snow from the two passes the second week of April. Following that crews will make any necessary road and guardrail repairs.

Only Mother Nature could delay the respective openings.

Yosemite National Park is responsible for the opening of 9,945 foot Tioga Pass, the highest of the three Mother Lode Sierra Nevada passes.

Glacier Point Road in Yosemite NP Open to Traffic

Things are starting to open up for Spring. Glacier Point Road in Yosemite is now open for wheeled traffic. Now if we can just get Tioga Pass and Sonora Pass opened!

Via YubaNet:

The Glacier Point Road opened for the season on May 5, 2009 at 12 noon. Limited services at Glacier Point, including vault toilets and hand washing stations, are available. The Glacier Point concessions stand is not open at this time.

There is no projected opening date for the Bridalveil Creek Campground.

Roadways may be wet due to melting snow and wildlife is very active on the Glacier Point Road. Visitors are advised to drive with caution.

There is no projected opening date for the Tioga Road.

Third Fatality at Squaw Valley this Season

Another victim fell prey to a tree collision at Squaw Valley on Thursday. That brings the year's death-toll to three as the resort season winds down.

The other two deaths were earlier this season due to in-bound avalanches. One was a ski patroller who was buried while doing avalanche control work.  

We saw lots of in-bound avalanches this year all over the country. That's a comcept that's kinda freaking me out. I mean sheesh, do I really need to start carrying my beacon, shovel and probe at the resort, too?

From Mercury News:

A skier has died after hitting a tree at the Squaw Valley USA resort near Lake Tahoe.

Squaw Valley Fire Chief Pete Bansen says the accident occurred Thursday afternoon at the top of the mountain near the Granite Chief lift.

Ski patrol members administered CPR, but the skier was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim's name was withheld pending notification of family members.

Two other skiers were killed at Squaw Valley this season.

In March, 41-year-old ski patrol member Andrew Entin died after being partially buried during avalanche control work. In December, 21-year

Third Straight Year of Below Average Sierra Mountains Snowpack

The final snow survey of the season has come and gone and the Department of Water Resources has found that the 08/09 snowpack measures up at 66% of average. That marks the third straight year of below average snow depths.

From myMotherLoad:

D.W.R. Spokesperson Ted Thomas says, “We’re well past the period where we can expect heavy precipitation, so it is very disappointing.”

The northern Sierra registered 66 percent, the central Sierra 70 percent and the southern Sierra 61 percent.

This marks the third straight year that the state is behind average. D.W.R. has launched a statewide “Save our Water” campaign, urging Californians to conserve throughout the summer.

Wildfires both Cause and Effect of Global Warming

Never thought about that one before. Forest fires have always been simply an effect, in my mind, of higher temps, drier climates and longer summer seasons.

This new study makes it sound more like a vicious feedback loop in which forest fires are both a cause and effect of global warming.

Of course we all know that wildfires are a natural and healthy part of all ecosystems. Healthy ecosystems can handle them and actually benefit from them. The problem is that many forest ecosystems are now so out of whack and so clogged with fuel, that we have the threat of "megafires" across the west. Which makes the feedback-loop situation even worse, I imagine.

From AP via SFGate:

A warming climate will fuel larger, more frequent wildfires in the Sierra Nevada and other parts of the West, and the fires will contribute to climate change, according to a new study.

More than 20 international scientists, in the report published Friday in the journal Science, said fire is not only a consequence of climate change but an important cause.

"Fire also influences the climate system. This is what we call a feedback," Jennifer Balch, a fire expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The End of (in-bounds) Sierra Ski Season 2009

The Sierra ski season is coming to an end over the next few weeks. Unless, that is, you're among those who earn their turns and look beyond the lifts and ropes of resorts and into the untracked backcountry. Skiable terrain can always be found straight through June in the Eastern Sierra. 

From the AP:

Sierra Nevada ski resorts are beginning to shut down lifts for the season after what some operators are calling a "very challenging year" because of the economy's downhill run.

The Boreal, Soda Springs and Homewood resorts around Lake Tahoe closed on Sunday, a week before the nearby Alpine Meadows, Heavenly, Northstar-at-Tahoe and Diamond Peak ski areas plan to halt operations.

In a message on the resort's Web site, Alpine Meadows executives acknowledged the economy is prompting an earlier-than-usual shutdown of their slopes. Last year, the resort closed May 4.

Desert and Sierra Wildflower Slideshow

Ah Spring! Here's a very cool story and sideshow from OC Register on spring wildflower blooms in Death Valley and the Sierra Nevada. I'm still lamenting the approaching end of ski season, but this certainly makes me yearn for spring and summer. Gorgeous!!

* Photo Credit: Bruce Chambers