Ski Mountaineers Section
Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club
Founded 1934
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
Welcome to the Ski Mountaineers’ Archive
February 2026:
Welcome to the archive of the Ski Mountaineers Section (SMS) website prior to 2014. A lot of interesting history of backcountry skiing around Southern California is preserved in these pages. Explore the links in the menu on the left.
Because the information is more than ten years old, some of the information and links (even on this page) will not work or are out of date. Please don't use any of the information to select your gear or plan your outings. At present our plan is to leave this an archive without trying to update it.
Please send any comments to: SMS webmaster and chair.
Our section (SMS) welcomes all who enjoy skiing the mountain wilderness with the comradeship and safety of a group. We offer a varied schedule of mountaineering ski tours, including day tours, overnight hut and snowcamping trips, and peak climbs, as well as ski training clinics at resorts and in the backcountry. Some of us also do summer hiking and mountaineering trips. Look at the pictures below, the Trip Reports page and the Slide Show to see what we are doing. SMS tours and events are open to those using either alpine-touring (randonnée) or free-heel (telemark) gear or occasionally split boards. Qualification for membership is based on skiing ability, including the ability to ski uphill in the backcountry. Most ski tours require metal-edged telemark or alpine skis with touring bindings and climbing skins. Contact the leader to sign up for a trip. You need not be a member of the SMS or the Sierra Club to ski with us except for advanced mountaineering trips restricted to members for insurance reasons.
SMS emblem and ski tour sketch by Sierra Club artist and SMS co-founder Leland Curtis (1935). Cartoons by Milton Hildebrand, from Ski Heil!, by Joel Hildebrand, SCB Vol XX, No I, p 1 (Feb 1935). Other cartoons by Mugelnoos authors and editors.
The Mugelnoos: Ski Mountaineers' newssheet. Send check for $15 annual subscription, payable to Ski Mountaineers, to the Mugelnoos Mailer.
Membership: Open to any Sierra Club member who subscribes to the Mugelnoos, is a 4th Class skier or equivalent, and who has participated in an SMS ski tour.
Picture of the month: Evening clouds seen from Pear Lake Hut in March 2014. Photo by Bill Lutz. See more on Bill's Picasa Site
