Last week the California State Senate passed a bill that would require ski resorts document their safety plan and then make those reports publically available on their websites. A similar bill was vetoed last year, the only difference was that the prior bill also required ski resorts to put padding on lift towers. Ski resorts [ more... ]

Get your corn maps—NASA is looking to begin releasing maps of the Sierra Nevada snowpack in near real-time. The maps are part of an effort to give California better estimates of how much water the mountains are holding, but backcountry users can certainly benefit. Skiers unwilling to embrace summer sports will be able to use [ more... ]

Heavenly Valley Ski Resort in California recently paid a $120,000 fine for waste violations mostly related to used oil. It seems they failed to have their used oil tank inspected, maintain a secondary tank, train people on what to do in the event of an emergency, and lacked the means to prevent spillage on their [ more... ]

There is a cop-killing fugitive (allegedly) on the run in the area around Big Bear Lake in California, but don’t panic, the resorts will not be closing. Police say they’ve searched about 200 cabins in the area as well as Bear Mountain and Snow Summit ski resorts. Those resorts were closed for a half-day last [ more... ]

On Christmas Eve a group of friends were riding Donner Ski Ranch, located in California atop Donner Summit. One of them heard a roar and then witnessed what he calls “a pretty serious avalanche” that was “heading down the bunny hill towards the lodge.” A check-in with friends revealed that one was missing. He wasn’t [ more... ]

Two of Malibu’s finest ran to help a woman who’d climbed about 50 feet up a cliff and found herself stranded. They managed to reach her, but were only capable of reinforcing unfair Southern California lifeguard stereotypes. The two became stranded and had to sit on the cliff with the woman while waiting for someone [ more... ]

With a quick sweep of his pen, California Governor Jerry Brown enveloped the Golden State’s parks in bubble wrap for two years, protecting them from the budget shortfalls that threatened to close 72 of them. It’s not that Brown was suddenly feeling generous, but that a scandal within the parks department showed that some were [ more... ]

Have a ton of cash, live in California, and like to travel a lot? Well, as long as you don’t mind tiny planes and like traveling among Palo Alto, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles you can get a monthly pass to fly all you want for $1000. A new company called Surf Air created [ more... ]

June Lake, California is town of 600 people with a ski resort. More than their identity, it’s their biggest employer requiring about 200 part-time employees during ski season. Last week Mammoth Mountain Ski Area announced that it’d close down the June Mountain ski area, at least for the 2012-13 season. With so many in the [ more... ]

Sequoia National Park in California is home to the towering Sequoia redwoods that people drive from all over the country to see. The problem is all the driving. And all the other energy we use that creates air pollution. Sequoia has the worst air of any national park, comparable to urban areas like L.A. Experts [ more... ]