California's Sierra Nevada is home to some of the best—and least known—backcountry skiing in North America. And Tioga Pass Resort, where photographer Bill McChesney spent three days shooting for the January/February 2002 Adventure's "Skiing the Range of Light," may well be the Sierra's best place to hang hats, poles, and skins.

Located on the edge of Yosemite National Park, this isolated outpost of private, dorm-style cabins is encompassed by hard-packed powder couloirs, bowls, and the reflective granite peaks that give the Sierra its nickname, the Range of Light.

Here in McChesney's online gallery, extreme skier Todd Miller and backcountry guide Josh Pearlman find air, carve turns, and find themselves retreating from a sudden Sierra snowstorm.