Andy Lewicky and his blog, SierraDescents, are cornerstones of the SoCal touring scene.
Admittedly, I associate LA with sunburns (I’m fair-skinned) and Jeff Spicoli and tasty waves. Other committed backcountry tourists living in and around LA find it a suitable place to get their snow-sliding fix.
On January 10, I received an email from a LA-based reader. This was a few days after the apocalyptic wildfires began raging in and around Los Angeles. He informed me that a long-time backcountry skier and writer, Andy Lewicky, and his family had lost their home.
Lewicky has documented the SoCal backcountry scene on his site, SierraDescents, since 2005. Reading the site, you’ll find that not far from LA there’s tons of ski-exploration to be. Lewicky doesn’t focus on turning lemons into lemonade as those of us residing in more snow-friendly places might assume; he illustrates through his words and photography that places like LA, blessed with close-proximity vertical relief, can offer snow-sliding excellence. In other words, lemons grow on trees there, and the lemonade abounds.
If you enjoy reading about backcountry skiing, you have likely come across SierraDescents. It remains a treasure trove. Go read it.
On January 9, Lewicky published “Pacific Palisades.”
In that post, he writes:
“Of course we knew about the wildfires. But truth be told, we thought the full might of the City of Angels, called to duty, would hold the line. Not everywhere, of course. But south of Sunset—or, worst-case scenario, the heart of the Palisades, the Village itself?
“We thought it would be safe. At the very least, we thought there’d be a hell of a fight.”
A few days after learning about these events, I emailed Lewicky to get his thoughts on his current situation and the beauty he has found in the SoCal touring community over the years.
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The High Route: Can you let us know a bit about your current status? Many of us have seen these wildfires and can only understand them in the abstract.
Andy Lewicky: Well, currently, my family is split between California and Arizona. We just signed a lease for a new apartment in Santa Monica (where my wife works) so my son can graduate with his Palisades Charter High School class (he’s a senior). My daughter is going to move in with my brother so she can attend in-person schooling in Arizona. She’s bold like that but it’s still the hardest part for me—trying to contend with having the family split and not knowing how things are going toplay out in the future. Our neighbors saved our cat during the chaos of the evacuation and I don’t really think I can put into words how grateful we are that she wasn’t in the house when the fire arrived.
So I guess current status would be: my family and I are safe, we lost a lot of stuff, but we’re still very fortunate, and we’re doing the best we can.
THR: As you contemplate the past week or so, can you put your love for the mountains in perspective and grasp how much joy they have brought to your life? (Looking at your writing and videos, it’s pretty clear, the mountains make you happy.)
Lewicky: It’s bittersweet. We lived where we did in part so that I would have access to the mountains (the Santa Monicas), and that’s also what put us in harm’s way. Mountains are like that—they don’t love us the way we love them. I was climbing trees and scrambling alone up exposed slopes when I was in grade school (that drove my parents crazy) and I don’t know why I was so drawn to the hills but that passion started as young as I can remember and never left me.
THR: Let’s pivot to the LA scene. How would you describe the urban scene sandwiched between the Pacific and the San Gabriel Mountains?
Lewicky: It’s crazy, and it’s hard to describe because no one really believes you if you try. LA is severely underrated as a mountain town. We have three major ranges near downtown LA, the smallest of which is around 10,000 feet high base-to-top. And that’s not including the Sierra.
And in the midst of that you have Los Angeles, which truly is one of our planet’s great urban centers. It makes for a dizzying juxtaposition of people and place. LA is famous for its diversity, and I think that’s what makes the city special: it can be all things to all people—even if you’re looking for big-mountain alpine terrain.
THR: How would you describe the outdoorsy scene near and around your home?
Lewicky: The whole of the Santa Monicas are an incredible mostly-wilderness zone, so it’s the go-to place for LA hikers and bikers. I always wanted to ski the range (they top out at 3000’, so that’s unlikely), and then my son convinced me to get a mountain bike two years ago, and I realized it was just like skiing. The range has these epic fire-road rides on endless ridges that look out over city, mountain, and sea, and my completely unbiased opinion is it’s the finest scenic flowy screaming mountain biking on the planet.
THR: With good access to what most of us would consider a binary outdoor scene (surf and turf), how do you manage what seems to be your somewhat insatiable need to adventure on skis?
Lewicky: Thanks to the Sierra, in fat years we can be skiing from November to July. I wouldn’t say I ever get tired of skiing, but that does tend to fill up the tank, and I’ve also come to appreciate the wisdom of rotating seasonally through sports. It’s good for the body and good for the soul.
THR: Can you tell us about the blogging scene around backcountry skiing when you began SierraDescents?
Lewicky: There was Lou Dawson doing WildSnow and not much else. Honestly, it was kind of an empty niche. Lou was so good at what he was doing he was a big inspiration to me, but he was entirely Colorado-focused, and I knew we had some California stories to tell. This was also right when Nikon released (I believe) the D70, which was maybe one of the first digital cameras that did landscape photography justice. So I saw this sudden convergence of things I was interested in: blogging as a viable technology, paired with new digital imaging possibilities and my interest in writing. So I jumped right in.
THR: And I imagine this was a time when people were hungry for stories like you provided/provide. And, still, SoCal adventure skiing was a core niche. Did you find that SoCal adventure skiers came out of the woodwork (so to speak), or was this a community that grew as you evolved as a skier and writer?
Lewicky: I think in those days there weren’t a lot of ways for us to connect with each other. The LA skiing and outdoor scene was actually incredibly vibrant in the post-war period, but something happened (TV? airplanes? I don’t know), and things kind of went to seed. Some core groups stayed active, but if you were new to LA, you would probably never hear about any of them, so (like me), you’d probably think you were basically alone.
One of the really cool things I came to realize is that in a city the size of LA, there are tons of people interested in exactly what you are—you just have to find them. And I think my site helped serve as one of the gathering points for that community—for us to find each other, and share our stories.
THR: Reading through the comments on your stories, your readers show a real affinity for you and your passion for exploring with your skis—why do you think you have struck a nerve with your readership?
Lewicky: I think I managed to communicate my passion for the sport from a relatable point of view. Aside from some of my fringier adventures, much of what I was doing were things that anyone who was motivated and sufficiently nuts could alsodo. My mission was always to sort of grab the reader and stuff them in my backpack and take them along for the ride—show them exactly what it was like when I went out there—what I was seeing, thinking, feeling, the triumphs and the often-hilarious ways that the SoCal mountains will school you.
THR: I live in Bend, Oregon, where the snow is pretty reliable. It may not be the best snow, but it eventually snows every winter. Where you live, what type of patience around skiing and seasonality have you developed over time? I imagine it is a healthy relationship, as you seem ok waiting for snow.
Lewicky: So, I have to take my obligatory shot at the Wasatch here. If you want lots of great snow, for God’s sake don’t move to SoCal. Go to Utah! But I have to tell you something: I’ve noticed that those of us here in SoCal exile seem to develop a very keen appreciation for what the mountains give us. I don’t know that you get a similar level of enjoyment if you’re constantly exposed to stellar conditions. Please note this entire paragraph may just be a masterpiece of rationalization. And yet…we sure love our mountains!
THR: And if you have developed some patience, was that a struggle, or do you have the type of disposition that can wait for the goods?
Lewicky: So, I started SD in 2005, and I think that coincided with three massive winters in a row for the local mountains, so I began with kind of a distorted sense of what I would be working with. Immediately after that, of course, we went into a terrible multi-year drought, and I think I did some really high-quality complaining during those years. Just post after post of, well, still no snow here…
At some point, I realized that we were being conditioned in a way just to go crazy if things were even a little bit ok. And sometimes they weren’t just a little bit ok, they were best-day-ever ok, and when mother nature makes you wait years for that, it’s just such a potent experience. And you have to add the LA/urban context. We do feel like fish out of water. We live in the desert. We drive gridlocked freeways to get to our mountains. Ok, now this is sounding like an abusive relationship. 🙂 But it’s very LA. It is the city of dreams, after all.
THR: Is there such a thing as a bad day of backcountry touring?
Lewicky: I think if you get out there with friends and you come home safe, it’s a good day no matter what, but I like to think our mountains are unrivaled in their ability to humble a skier.
THR: And…”The Couloir to Nowhere” video. Definitely a classic. What are your thoughts on that day (well, two days) now? (It is so fun watching those tele turns.)
Lewicky: It’s such an aesthetic line and such a ridiculously hard effort. That it takes place 30-some miles from downtown LA makes it all the more epic. I still marvel at the fact that we worked that hard to get up the south side of Iron Mountain without knowing whether or not the line down the north side was viable. And that even if it was, we still had to climb back up to the top to get home. That marked the beginning of my skiing partnership with the legendary Dave Braun, who remains a close friend to this day. Sometimes life is sweet.
THR: Anything else you would like to address?
Lewicky: One of the big shifts in my mindset from when I first started has been an evolution from “this is what I love to do” to “this is how I do it.” I’ve been trying to focus more on sharing what I’ve learned over many years of hiking, climbing, and backcountry skiing. And in particular, I’ve been working on a series of essays on backcountry safety.
I was always aware that people were watching some of the very dangerous things I was doing, and it seemed like kind of a conspicuous omission that I never wrote anything on that subject. Still, I just never felt I had anything meaningful to contribute. So I just pondered it and stayed quiet. That changed after the pandemic when many things went very wrong for my family (and many others, obviously) simultaneously. In the aftermath of that and our recovery, I realized I finally felt I had something to offer that might be helpful, and that sparked my safety project essays.
First and foremost, they are designed to reduce your chances of getting killed in an avalanche, because that’s obviously the big boogeyman of the backcountry (and probably the most preventable). But beyond that, I wanted to expose people to some ideas that had the potential to change how they approached the subject of safety (or even life) itself. It’s kind of ambitious and probably will never be finished to my satisfaction, but one of the things I’ve learned about going through really awful experiences is you come out wanting to help other people.
Great interview! I’ve always loved Sierra Descents. It’s got some awesome TRs.
Reading Andy’s description of winter in LA almost being an abusive relationship makes me think of winter here in southern New England. I can relate to the sentiment. We might (*might*) have more reliable snow, but our “mountains” are tiny compared the San Gabriels.
Thanks for shining a light on a great skier and writer. I’ve very much appreciated the style and scope of what Andy has put out on his blog. Always feels like the right amount of beta and the right blend of infotainment