January 10th & 11th Condition Guessing

It's Tuesday the 6th and people want to know what to expect if they visit Mt. Pinos. The short answer is: We don’t know.

and

We want to know what the conditions are too. But we are volunteers who live a considerable distance from the mountain and are not usually able to dash up after the road opens to check things out.

That said:

• The last set of storms were very warm with more rain than snow.

• The National Weather Service says no more precipitation through the weekend. But it should be cold enough that whatever snow there is will stay until the weekend.

• Kern County changed the status of the road today and it is now open.

• The fire camera on Cerro Noroeste, about the same elevation as Nordic Base, shows lots of ice on the tower and a thin snow pack.

So the best guess at present is that there will be a thin snow pack on Pinos this weekend. If you are a skier, bring your rock skies. If you area hiker, bring your micro-spikes or crampons.

Here's hoping for better snow. . .