eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (12/16/85)
I have received at least 3 letters from people asking for Yosemite snow conditions around Christmas, lots of netters in the Valley eh? Kirkwood is about 60 air miles N of Yosemite, so this is the best I can do this weekend. Next weekend maybe from Yosemite. 12/14: went downhilling at the resort [no close encounters with trees, thank you :-)]. Base: about 4 feet (yes!), packed powder, no ice or extensive windpack. Weather was high,thin cloudiness (sun), day temps were from high teens and lower twenties. Earlier snows appear to have been quite heavy and wet as off trail skiing was at most 6 inches deep. There also appears to be an ice layer several feet down as I suspect rain in a storm or two. Oh, very little wind. 12/15: went ski mountaineering S of Carson pass. Waxes would have been green or blue stick (I was using climbing skins). Weather: clear, very little wind. Some wind crust on the ridges and higher elevations. Avalanche danger appeared to be minimal, but I did not dig a pit, but I hope that the rain at lower elevation was snow at this level. Ascended to 10,300+, area was populated by a medium-sized Sierra Club group. See you in the Valley. From the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: --eugene miya NASA Ames Research Center {hplabs,ihnp4,dual,hao,decwrl,allegra}!ames!aurora!eugene emiya@ames-vmsb.ARPA