The Eastern Sierra skyline as shot by Blackbird Guide & Founder @zebblais this weekend. Photo: Zeb Blais.
EASTERN SIERRA BACKCOUNTRY SKI CONDITIONS
2024-04-28 | Bishop & Lee Vining Areas
A cold air mass and some moisture breathed some fresh life into high north lines in the Eastern Sierra without compromising the corn! Late this week the Sierra Nevada range received a quick pulse of moisture, from Tahoe to the southern Sierra. The precipitation came in as snow, concentrating near the crest and mostly above 11,000'.
A view of the backcountry skiing options from South Lake near Bishop in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Photo: Zeb Blais
The bottom line is that conditions on both northerly and southerly aspects are skiing well right now. New cold snow on high norths and corn on all other aspects were glorious this weekend! Many areas in the range received no snow at all, so the skiing there was largely unchanged, other than getting a deeper freeze this weekend. This deep freeze made for an extended range of corn conditions during daily warning, providing a nice sweet spot for finding corn throughout the day. Looking for corn on northerly slopes was definitely not happening on most slopes above 11k' on Saturday and as temps warmed on Sunday norths began yielding good spring-snow turns in elevations below 11k'.
Skinning up below Mt Johnson in the Eastern Sierra near Bishop this weekend. New snow at 11,600' was 4-5" deep. Photo: Zeb Blais
One of the big challenges was getting into the range, which was made easier this weekend with Sabrina Lake and South Lake near Bishop opening. These trailheads give access to snow at just under 10,000' and while there was no appreciable new snow at the trailheads, it was easy to get to great skiing without sneakers.
Ski quality was overall really good over the weekend. If you went high north near the crest, the snow was cold, soft powder on top of a range of crusts from last week's warm-up. It skied well and by placing mindful turns you could minimize feeling the crusts below the soft new snow. On east to south to west, the corn skiing was largely unchanged by the new snow and with hard freezes each night, the corn window was long and glorious!
Booting up the North couloir on Mt Johnson in the Eastern Sierra backcountry. Photo: Zeb Blais
A backcountry skier approaching Mt Johnson in the Eastern Sierra near Bishop. Photo: Zeb Blais
A backcountry skier dropping in on Mt Johnson in the Eastern Sierra on Saturday. Photo: Zeb Blais
Corn skiing is still in full force. Across the range, corn skiing is still plentiful and is the easiest surface to find. Overnight temps in the teens really locked in the surface, yielding to intense sun and well-above freezing temps during the day. The window was good from 10-3:00 over the weekend. That will tighten as temps warm this week, but it should remain excellent corn skiing for the foreseeable future.
Excellent corn in Tungstar Bowl Leff yesterday in the Eastern Sierra backcountry. Photo: Bob Newcomb
Excellent corn in Tungstar Bowl Leff yesterday in the Eastern Sierra backcountry. Photo: Bob Newcomb
Pine Creek has great access as well. Our guides got into the Tungstar Bowls over the weekend and were able to ski from just under 9,000', providing relatively easy access to some excellent corn schralping. Reports were that the middle Tungstar bowl was holding powder too, so a little cold snow to sniff out in this zone as well.
Overview
Surfaces: Corn and powder skiing. The magic of the Range of Light!
Timing: With a great overnight freeze, intense sun and high temps in the low 40s, the corn was skiing well fairly early and staying good fairly late. It was easy to start skiing corn by 10am below 11k' and it stayed good into the early afternoon (at least 3pm).
Snow Quality: The best snow was high north powder on moderate slopes near the Sierra Crest. Here there was 5-10" of new snow sitting on a crust that made for some excellent winter snow turns. Yeah, it was possible to hear and feel the crust a bit, but enough snow to make it really fun! Corn was also glorious and the window for skiing it was long.
Weather Forecasts: Check out our Eastern Sierra Avalanche, Weather & Webcams page for links across the Eastern Sierra Nevada.
Open Trailheads
- Lake Sabrina
- South Lake (near Bishop)
- Pine Creek
- Virginia Lakes
Closed Roads/ Trailheads
- SR 120
- SR 108
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