Yosemite National Park — Tim Esquivel, a member of the Yosemite National Park avalanche team, throws a rope down a rock face at Olmsted Point, where he and other team members will rappel down the granite.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33218

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Yosemite National Park — Yosemite National Park road crews work to clear snow off Tioga Road. The snowpack in the Sierra Neveda this season was 178% of normal.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33219

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Yosemite National Park — A damaged road sign from Yosemite National Park has been recycled into a digging tool for the park avalanche team at Olmsted Point.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33220

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Yosemite National Park — Yosemite National Park avalanche team members Tim Esquivel, left, and Steve Lynds plant explosives on a steep granite dome in a severe avalanche area during blasting operations at Olmsted Point.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33221

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Yosemite National Park — Steve Lynds, a member of the Yosemite National Park avalanche team, prepares charges for blasting operations at Olmsted Point.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33222

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Yosemite National Park — Edward Canapary, a member of the Yosemite National Park avalanche team, prepares charges for blasting operations.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33223

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Yosemite National Park — Members of the Yosemite National Park avalanche team plant explosives on a slide zone to spread charcoal during blasting operations at Olmsted Point. Charcoal blackens the snowpack and speeds melting of the snow on the steep granite slope.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33224

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Yosemite National Park — Icicles melt on a granite ledge along the Tioga Road inside Yosemite National Park.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33225

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Yosemite National Park — Edward Canapary a member of the Yosemite National Park avalanche team, puts up his tent on the Tioga Road at the Olmsted Point base camp where his team will conduct snow surveys and blasting operations.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33226

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Yosemite National Park — Edward Canapary, Tim Esquivel and Steve Lynds, members of the Yosemite National Park avalanche team, head out in the early morning for blasting operations at Olmsted Point.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33227

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Yosemite National Park — Edward Canapary, right, and Steve Lynds check out the evening's meal at their camp. The team brings a shipping container full of supplies in the fall, where it sits at Olmsted all winter until they arrive on or around April 15 the following spring.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33228

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Yosemite National Park — A road sign is still buried by the winter snowfall on the Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33229

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Yosemite National Park — Tenaya Peak, right, towers over Tenaya Lake, left, in a view from the Yosemite National Park avalanche team's base camp at Olmsted Point.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33230

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Yosemite National Park — Yosemite National Park road crews work to clear snow off Tioga Road, where the snowpack in the Sierra Neveda was 178% of normal.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=33231

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