Extreme Skier Billy Poole Dies in Jump Accident

Just after we heard about the death of 28 year old actor Heath Ledger today, we outdoor types heard more sad news.
28 year old extreme skier Billy Poole died today after a bad landing while filming for Warren Miller. Billy had been helicoptered into Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah to perform some of his signature jumps. He died today at 1:30 at University Hospital in Salt Lake City.

California State Park Closures - What to do.

We're big fans of California State Parks. We camp, hike, surf and mountain bike in them all year round. If you are a big fan of the parks and want to keep the Governor from closing many of them, have a look at this way to take some action. Keep State Parks Open.

The Governor plans to replace park employees with security forces to keep people from visiting these public places. The savings would be minimal to the State of California.

If you really don't care, have a long look at all these photos of Northern California State Parks set to close.
Have a look at Tom Stienstra's article about the parks here.

One of our favorite parks is Henry Coe State Park. The largest State Park in Northern California. The Governor want to close the park to save about $67,000. This park is 2 hours from downtown San Francisco. With 86,000 acres, it offers an unimaginably large area to explore. One could backpack for 2 weeks, covering 10 miles a day and still not cross your tracks. The steep and hilly park is filled with flowers like the California Poppy in the spring. Birds such as the Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle live here. So do mountain lions, deer, bobcats and coyotes.
Deep inside the park is the mysterious Orestimba Wilderness. It's 22,000 acres are set aside for preservation but what really keeps it wild is the multi-day backpacking trip to get there.
Visitors who have reported back say that this is one of the top wilderness backpacking trips "anywhere".

Henry Coe State Park Pictures (on Flickr)

California Governor Plans to Close 48 State Parks

Our mole in State Government just told us that Governor Schwarzenegger is planning to close 48 State parks to balance the state budget this year. See the summary budget here. The state is apparently reeling from the loss of revenue due to the housing market collapse. Some of the parks on the list are some of our favorite places in California.
Tomales Bay State Park
Lime Kiln State Park
Mt. San Jacinto State Park.
Portola Redwoods State Park
And one of the state's largest state parks, Henry Coe State Park

Lifeguard reductions will be in places like:
Manresa State Beach
New Brighton State Beach
Natural Bridges State Beach
San Onofre State Beach
Carlsbad State Beach

There are many others. Have a look at the whole list.

Sir Edmund Hillary Died

Sad News.

Sir Edmund Hillary died this morning in Aukland New Zealand at age 88. He and Tenzing Norgay were the first to climb Mt. Everest in 1953. The New York Times has a poignant obituary.
For more on the story of his life and death see the NZ Herald.

1-4-08 storm update - Storm Aftermath

Here are some before and after shots of the storm in the Sierras. While we had a good dump of snow and some whiteout conditions for a while, it seems that the coast had more of the damage. But then again, we had an incredible time riding and skiing in very deep and very dry powder. The storm brought between 9 & 11 feet of new snow to the resorts high above us at Donner Lake. Here's a movie of Telstar tree skiing at Sugar Bowl on Sunday.
The National Weather Service in Monterey put together an excellent wrap up of the storm here.
A writer at the Sierra Sun talks about the Weather Service's "irrational exuberance" by putting the storm into historical perspective.

1-4-08 storm update - Storm finally hits

At 2:50 this afternoon the wind shifted from the south to the west and the temperature dropped 4 degrees. It's been snowing ever since. Temperature is currently 31.
Some of the gusts are causing whiteout conditions outside but we're down in the trees. I wouldn't want to be up on the pass. We understand that highway 80 eastbound has just been closed. Total snow over the past 2 hours is about 3 inches. Not too crazy but we should see higher snowfall rates over the next several hours.

1-4-08 storm update - A dud for the Sierras so far

Empty shelves (candles), Safeway, Truckee.

The storm here in the Sierras is a disappointment. It has been raining pretty hard all morning. Temperature is climbing to near 40. There are gusty winds and the power is going in and out but this is by no means a serious storm up here. It looks like the brunt of the energy hit lower down in the Sacramento valley and parts of the Bay Area.
The NWS is still talking about ridge gusts to 200 mph but with the front already passed the Bay Area, it's hard to imagine this will occur.
Notes from Truckee: We went to the hardware store this morning and the TV crews were crawling over the place, asking for reports from people about trouble spots. Highway 80 was closed at the time but is now open. I saw on TV that CNN and the Weather Channel are camped up on the hill reporting from Donner Summit.
There was minor flooding on all roads but nothing a truck could not get through.

We'll see if things pick up but so far this is more like the new years storm of 2005-06 where we had lots of warm rain and no snow to speak of.

1-4-08 Storm Update

We've arrived safely at Donnerhaus, the winter outpost of Biggestroom.com and Telstar Logistics. The highways are empty but relatively clear of snow. The Thursday night storm seems to be delayed. Only about 1 inch of new snow on the ground. The NWS is now saying that tomorrow's storm may be wetter and stronger than previously forecast. Next up it is supposed to rain for a bit tomorrow AM here at 5969 ft. Then snow rates will hit between 6 inches an hour to 8 inches an hour later in the day.
Stay tuned as long as the power holds out.

The Storm of 1-4-08

The National Weather Service in Sacramento California has issued a very rare blizzard warning for the Sierra Nevada. Our team will be hunkered down inside our winter outpost at Donner Lake, just below Donner summit off of highway 80.
To see how rare the blizzard warning is, have a look at the NWS glossary for watches and warnings. Blizzard isn't even on the list.
While the storm is expected to dump between 5 & 8 feet of snow in the Sierras, the real issue will be the wind, which is expected to hit up to 145 mph on the ridges.
Winds along the California coast could be well over hurricane force. Rain of 2-10 inches is expected depending on whether you are on a hill or valley. Ocean swells are going to hit 30 ft.

As a previous weather forecaster put it, this is not your garden variety storm. The last time we had a storm this strong was 12-12-95 when the Victorian era San Francisco conservatory of flowers was destroyed and toppled thousands of trees along the coast and Golden Gate Park.

Stand by for reports from Biggest Room. If we have power, we'll update with eye witness reports from the Sierras.