Project goals
Telemarkzone has been partcipating in the development of a demonstration project in sustainable house design and architecture. The goal was to design and build a multiple purpose work and play retreat, that should serve as an eductional example in affordable, local sustainable housing, at the same time serve as a group retreat for backcountry adventures. The Swall Meadows Integrative Design Project (SMID) is now being transferred into the Swall Institute.
General info
The
Sierra Nevada of California contain the largest contiguous
roadless wilderness of the continental U.S.
Klick here for Weather and Snow Conditions.
Description
of the High Sierra:
The "High
Sierra" occurs in eastern California, USA, in the Sierra Nevada
mountains. Along the crest of the Sierra is an approximately 200-mile
(320 km) stretch of alpine wilderness from Lake Tahoe to the Golden
Trout Wilderness (south of Sequoia National Park).
From Sonora Pass (State Highway 108) southward for 170 miles (270 km), the
Sierra is traversed by only one road, the one through Yosemite National Park. 
This
area includes three national parks (Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and
Sequoia), one national monument (Devil's Postpile), and numerous
U.S. Forest Service wilderness areas, such as the John Muir, Ansel
Adams, and Golden Trout Wilderness. Together these areas comprise
the largest roadless wilderness in the contiguous 48 United States,
and they also include its highest peak, Mount Whitney at 14,496
feet (4418 m).
The distinctive and expansive scenery of this alpine region has captured the
minds and hearts of naturalists and photographers such as John Muir, Ansel Adams,
and Galen Rowell.
Of
interest to backcountry skiers, the high Sierra is a veritable
playground of
classic ski tours and peak descents. Sierra
Nevada literally means "snowy
jagged range" in Spanish. While much of the high Sierra is
above 9000 ft (3000 m), this extensive alpine terrain is relatively
glacier-free
and generally safer and more accessible than
other ski meccas such as the Rocky Mountains and the European Alps.
The combination of a
persistent spring snow pack (sometimes until
July) and California spring sunshine has made the high Sierra famous
for spring corn skiing
and long backcountry spring tours.
Finally, the dramatic eastern front range of the Sierra offers some of the highest
'pleasure to misery ratio' skiing around. Where else can you climb and ski a
14,000 ft peak by day, and return to your camp by a high desert hot spring in
the evening?
The High Sierra is also world famous for its climbing - Owens River Gorge, Buttermilks
just to count two of them, are accessible year round.
| 
