The Log of a Snow Survey: Skiing and Working in the Winter World of the Sierra Nevada

by Patrick Armstrong

Snow surveyors throughout the world get to see what most of us only dream about: stunning terrain, birdlife and animals rarely seen in lower elevations, and stars that seem close enough to grab.

Patrick Armstrong reveals the little-known world of a snow surveyor in this fascinating account, transporting readers into the remote winter world of the Sierra Nevada in California.

High in the mountains, Armstrong and his companions must cross twelve-thousand-foot passes and dig through snow to gain entrance to rock or log cabins for shelter at night. Traveling on skis, they often traverse more than a hundred miles each month during the winter and in the process climb and descend twenty or thirty thousand feet.

This account also provides important and practical information on topics such as safe winter travel on skis, avalanche prediction and avoidance, cabin life, cooking on and maintaining wood-burning stoves, wildlife, and birdlife.

Whether youre involved in snow surveying and snowmelt water management or youre just someone who enjoys the winter, wilderness, and the mountains, prepare yourself to enter a beautiful and remarkable winter world that has its dangers and sublime beauties.

Genres: Outdoors

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2014

Reviews

[Eugene Miya · Rating 3 out of 5]

In process, I worked on snow surveys a couple years prior to Patrick Armstrong started, but it was on the occasion of the death of a climbing buddy and PhD advisor dying that I chance to find this book. But along the way, computers (Jeff Dozier and I had this in common), the ARPAnet, and glaciologists hijacked me from that career. My survey skiing barely lasted 2 years. Ours was more research (remote sensing) than operational forecasting. But I heard names like Doug Powell and others that they would want me to meet.

I will get back to this.

[El · Rating 5 out of 5]

So detailed, so immersive, felt like I was on a survey in the Sierras. I picked this up at Spellbinder's in Bishop and I'm so pleased with it.

[Leslie Dawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patrick Armstrong is passionate about the snow survey. This is a detailed documentation of his many years of work for the survey in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He has excellent geographic descriptions of the survey routes, and safe ski terrain. He gives advice on cabin life from how to bake cinnamon biscuits to how to clean the ashes and soot out of a wood stove. This isn't a novel, so there isn't a plot. The chapters are organized by the different snow surveys, which after a while, all tend to sound alike with the exception of how different the snow survey cabins are. Worth reading for local audiences or fellow snow surveyors.

[Inga Aksamit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved this book. For anyone who likes to hike the Sierra this first hand account of being a snow surveyor is a wonderful read. Funny, irreverent and supremely at home in the deep, snowy canyons of the Southern Sierra, the stories and his philosophy are great entertainment. I hope he writes another book because I'm pretty sure he has more stories under his hat.

[Thomas Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always wondered about snow surveys

Fascinating read. The author tells the story very well. I could visualize the settings and wanted to read this again with a map in hand.