Snow Years - Kegger Chronicle

A Kegger participant tapping the keg in a snowstorm — The keg gets tapped regardless of weather. Snow falling in June, keg sitting in the open, and someone on their knees making it work. This is dedication.

The Stanislaus National Forest sits at elevation. June in the high Sierra can bring sunshine and 75-degree days — and it can bring snow. Over 50 years, the Kegger has encountered both. The party has been cancelled exactly zero times.

As Tom McGonigle notes in his history: twice, we have had to hold the party at an alternate spot. Once we were snowed out and held it 25 miles down the road at a true island on the same river. A few years ago, the big New Year's rains washed out the road into the valley, so we held it at the public camp near the Boy Scout camp. But other years, the snow was at camp — and that only made things more interesting.

The snowman tradition

When there is snow in camp in June, you build a snowman. This is not a written rule. It doesn't need to be. Everyone just does it.

Snow in camp

Woman posing with a snowman at the Kegger campsite, 2010 — 2010 — A Sonoma State snowman at the Kegger campsite. Pine cone hair, stick arms, proper attitude.

Man posing with a large snowman at camp in the snow, 2025 — 2025 — The 50th Annual was a snow year. The snowman looked happier about it than the man standing next to him.

Children playing in snow patches at the Kegger campsite — Snow at camp — the kids were delighted. The adults were... managing. Note the snow is June snow: patchy, slushy, melting fast.

A different kind of Kegger

When there is snow in the camp clearing, the whole weekend takes on a different character. Layers come out. The fire becomes less optional. The keg still gets tapped — and the beer flows the same as any other year.

The road in

The access road into the valley is the first obstacle in a snow year. When the Sierra snowpack is heavy, the road can be completely buried under several feet of pack that hasn't melted yet by June.

View through car windshield of a snow-covered dirt road through pine forest — The view through the windshield on approach. The road is... there. Somewhere under that.

Snow-covered dirt road in a pine forest — Deep pack on the road surface. Tire tracks suggest someone already made it through — or tried.

Snow-covered Sierra terrain with pines and granite boulders — High country in a snow year — granite boulders and pine trees in deep June snowpack.

The stretcher in snow

Moving the keg in a snow year is a different challenge. The normal route — cross-country through brush and granite — becomes a route through snow and hidden granite. Nobody has ever said "let's just skip it because of the snow." Nobody ever will.

For the full story of the stretcher, see Stretchers & Kegs in the Chronicle.