The Sierra Nevada, John Muir's "Range of Light", is the most formidable and beautiful range in the lower 48.  It presents a solid wall with no open pass in winter, from South Lake Tahoe, almost to LA, a distance of 350 miles.  Winter is when the roads are closed by many many feet of snow and extends from mid October to May, +/- a couple weeks on either end.  It is widely regarded as the best range in the US, and possibly the world for backcountry skiing.  Access is generally easy and the possibilities are endless.  There is no way I could visit the Sierra on this trip without sampling that backcountry.  

Sierra winters are characterized by massive snow falls followed by weeks of bright sun.  It has now been 2.5 weeks since the last snow and that 4-6 foot dump is now compacted and stale.  I am not into corduroy at ski areas.  It is both a blessing and a curse.  It provides a couple hours of fun in carefully controlled crowded amusement parks before it becomes scrapings over porcelain.  And alone, I do not do the off piste or scary stuff.  

Today was another of a long series of 50 degree days with brilliant sun and below freezing nights.  Perfect for corn snow over a firm base, if you hit the magic hour.  I skied backcountry off Kit Carson pass on CA rt. 88 near Kirkwood.  There is a turnout for parking at a trailhead in Toiyabe National Forest.  I was looking for a place with low to moderate angle south facing slopes that would corn up in the sun, and since I had no experience with the local backcountry, a place with some other cars and folks saddling up their packs with ski gear.  They were, as always, generous and encouraging with their info and advice.  Gray hair helps; well maybe it's white.  With a < 1 mile approach hike I reached a beautiful very gentle south facing series of openings in the forest that provided perhaps 600 vertical feet of not quite ripe corn.  Turns were hard to start and hard to finish, but I adjusted and it was great fun.  Views were astonishing.  The people driving on 88 didn't get those views, they were over a ridge and out of sight and you don't really SEE things when driving anyway.  

Photos/video certainly not needed with your trip reports, Denis.  You paint a wonderous day.  Thanks!

Thanks Rivergirl.

I went back today to try the north side of the pass, which faces southeast.  I badly misjudged corn ripening time and without sharp edges could have taken the slide for life on a 15 degree slope.  It was 55 ambient yet still very firm just after noon.  I was feeling distressed from the intense radiant heat of the sun and so left at that point, rather than wait for it.  I got a good look at the terrain.  I need to calibrate my head to learn when to hit the magic hour at the pass.  The terrain is far more complex than it looks from the road with many wrinkles and gullies.  There is plenty of slide potential, just not for the whole mountainside at once.  It reminds me of the day I skinned into Grizzly Gulch at Alta.  I then drove to Kirkwood for late lunch and think that skiing from the pass to Kirkwood would be quite a long and committing trip, although I'd like to talk to someone who has done it.