05-06 Observations from CO Central & Northern Rockies

[pde20]

Per Trackheads suggestion, would be nice for folks in CO to accumulate snowpack knowledge in one thread that would effectively (or perhaps ineffectively) track conditions over the course of the season, rather than scatter CO specific info amongst different threads.

I titled this one Central and Northern Rockies meaning it might be most useful to stick to these two CAIC designated regions, aimed at those of us who mostly ski Front Range, Park Range, Ten Mile/Sawatch, Mosquitos, Elks, Gore Range. San Juans and Sangres are a whole different game in terms of weather and snowpack, generally, so might make sense to start another thread for that area specifically.

So...with that said, I haven't gotten out yet this year and have nothing to contribute, but thinking of going Sunday, who has shit to share on what conditions are like out there?

[Yossarian]

Good stuff, I will contribute to this when I start getting up there in a month. Meantime, we can at least link up existing TRs with relevant BC info.

10-30 Elks (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38078)

10-30 AVIE Crested Butte (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38106)

11-02 Jones Pass (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38303)

11-06 CAIC Summary AVIES (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38816)

11-06 AVIE Berthoud FATALITY (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38641)

11-08 AVIE Eisenhower to Jones (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38812)

[Yossarian]

Colorado Avalanche Information Center Hazard/Forecasts begin 11-11.

CAIC (http://geosurvey.state.co.us/avalanche/Default.aspx?tabid=1)

[Yossarian]

Boy, doing that sure sobers one up pretty fast. Talk about a hard start to the season here. Look at that list of reports from a 10 day stretch, and then note how many incidents occured.

Be safe everyone!

[Foggy_Goggles]

I am planning on making a photo journal of my season (hella gat bitch!). Any snowscience and backcountry observations will end up here. Look for the first instalment here. Cletus, always playing it safe. It'll be good to have you around.

[kailas]

What about southern rockies? Don't we get any consideration, or
are we not cool enough?!

[pde20]

What about southern rockies? Don't we get any consideration, or
are we not cool enough?!

You are actually much cooler. However, it makes more sense, IMHO, to have a seperate thread fro SO Rockies due to vagaries in snow pack, weather, and the number of maggots lucky enough to ski there on a regular basis (much smaller) than the numerous norther/central skiers.

Yossarian, good action on the links to TRs, that may be a much more elegant way to centralize all the info...Trackheads Wasatch thread shows unfortunate "thread creep" and cuntage when what we really want is a repository of snow info.

I still haven't gotten within 40 miles of skiing this winter, front or backcountry, probably not until 11/20ish.

[Foggy_Goggles]

With forecast highs in the 70s for the city, I got the hell out and went for a tour. A little exersize, a little practice and a couple bonus turns made for a good day. My hopes were not high with the coverage looking like this:

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47483.jpg

Turns were not a priority. After a short while, this moster came into view.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47488.jpg

The is the east face of current creek. I estimate the crown at around 2 meters. Apparently this slid during the wind event of last saturday night. I found a fair size drift and decided to dig around. The snowpack was 110cm deep. Not 20 meters away, the ground was scoured bare. The results were straight scary. Hard slab on TG is to be expected around here and I wasn't disapointed.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47485.jpg

This 90cm slab is sitting on about 20cms of TG, depth hoar, rounds, rotten death...whatever you want to call it. When isolated, this column gave way very easily.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47486.jpg

The 20cm slab on the left released at "1 from the wrist". It is shown upside down so you can see the quality of the shear. The remaining slab (all four finger to one finger) failed at "3 from the wrist". Very scary. While the hard slab is very cohesive and may bridge, it holds a ton of energy. Heads up.

[Z]

Good shit Foggy!

1 from the wrist:eek: !! damn. scary stuff.

[iskibc]

With forecast highs in the 70s for the city, I got the hell out and went for a tour. A little exersize, a little practice and a couple bonus turns made for a good day. My hopes were not high with the coverage looking like this:

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47483.jpg

Turns were not a priority. After a short while, this moster came into view.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47488.jpg

The is the east face of current creek. I estimate the crown at around 2 meters. Apparently this slid during the wind event of last saturday night. I found a fair size drift and decided to dig around. The snowpack was 110cm deep. Not 20 meters away, the ground was scoured bare. The results were straight scary. Hard slab on TG is to be expected around here and I wasn't disapointed.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47485.jpg

This 90cm slab is sitting on about 20cms of TG, depth hoar, rounds, rotten death...whatever you want to call it. When isolated, this column gave way very easily.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_47486.jpg

The 20cm slab on the left released at "1 from the wrist". It is shown upside down so you can see the quality of the shear. The remaining slab (all four finger to one finger) failed at "3 from the wrist". Very scary. While the hard slab is very cohesive and may bridge, it holds a ton of energy. Heads up.


Thanks for the contribution FG. That is exactly what has been lurking for the past 7 days or so. That hard slab layer first started to take shape about 9 days ago during the first batch of wind. It started after that small 3-6" shot of snow. Since then it's been blowing hard up high, loading up North-east, North, and surprisingly southeast facing slopes.

First time I noticed this thread. Good stuff everyone. Let's keep it up.

[Dside11-11]

Yeah, I was up at Loveland Pass today. Dug a pit and did a few shovel shear and rutschblock tests. The slab is super hard, and bridges well, but the shovel shears were "popping" out as soon as I applied the least bit of outward pressure. The rutschblock test did not fail until I jumped hard (rate 5 of 7), but when it did, again, pop. Literally like breaking glass. That was on a 32 degree slope, so it will rate lower on a steeper slope, I am sure.

I concur with FG, lots of energy built up in the slab. Hit that fecker at the thin spot of a convexity, and you may be in for a free hard slab ride.

[kailas]

Look on the bright side, you can make some excellent igloo's right now!;)
We dont have much snow down here, in fact we seem to be in the
middle of a heat wave. Ullr where are you.

[Foggy_Goggles]

From the CAIC:



Early season snows have left us with a typical Colorado weak foundation on the colder NW-N-NE aspects near and above treeline. Strong recent SW winds have built hard & some soft slab on these colder aspects. These hard slabs are capable of supporting a person where they are deep. But where the snow depth thins out a person will likely break through to the weak underlying layers & it then becomes a possibility that the weak layer will fail, & could propagate failure long distances, creating large avalanches, even though the overall snowpack is not deep. That is one characteristic of hard slabs. They can store a great deal of energy, for some time, allowing fractures to propagate long distances when fracture occurs.

[Z]

Hard slabs are scary shit. That CAIC report defintely shows what foggy and everyone has been seeing lately.

I would really like to dig a few pits this weekend and check it out....

[Yossarian]

1st Hand Account from the 11-06 Berthoud Fatality (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39268)

[iskibc]

No activity spotted, nor any signs of instability crossed during a northern IPW tour this weekend. The sun and warmth is beginning to take some effect on slopes below 11,000', but cold air still prevails on the higher terrain. Coverage is still pretty thin throughout the IPW, with lot's of loaded gullies and terrain traps beginning to collect wind deposits.

http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopost/data/500/P1000228.JPG

http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopost/data/500/P1000311.JPG

[lemon boy]

it's still early-ish...IPW???

[iskibc]

it's still early-ish...IPW???

Upper St. Vrain drainage. Yeah, thought I'd look around a bit. Good skiing in the trees, but everything else is wind effected and/or scoured.

[lemon boy]

D'OH I meant early-ish in the AM why it took me till just now to decifer IPW :rolleyes:

[Foggy_Goggles]

I've been a little slack on this. To summarize the past 10days...variablility. Snowpack ranges from 0 to 240cm (no shit). The tension in the pack seems be be disapating but high quality shears are still in play. In short, it is gonna take a huge trigger but when it does, heads the fuck up. Going forward, A depth hoar layer that formed on 11/18 (and also some on 11/20) could be a problem. Wind and sun have knocked a lot of it down. However, in sheltered lee areas it was cover with wind trasport so it will remain a problem. If you don't dig, you don't know. If you do dig, you only know about right there. Keep the guard up. Have you don't enough rescue senarios.

Surface Hoar

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_48258.jpg

side note: it is great to get the touring posse back together. The level of comfort provided by being out in avalanche terrain with people whose abilities you know and trust can't be overstated. Not to mention it's damn fun

[bcrider]

Not to mention it's damn fun

that's the spirit!

ps. good pics and info. :)

[Avmapper]

Great to see all you guys sharing info and observations with everybody! I'll be finally getting up to Berthoud this weekend. CHEERS.
:)

[Foggy_Goggles]

Yesterday at and even below tree line, signs of inpending death were evident. Moderate sizes shooting cracks, whoophing and howling winds were the norm. I was triggering 8" to 18" soft slabs on test slopes. I didn't dig so that's about as tech as I'll get. Heavy snow was often grapple.

There is plenty of pow in the trees, no need to get all extremo. Have you and your partners been practicing rescue senarios. I've already tick a couple of people of my "safe to ski with list" as their beacon skills are suspect and they refuse to practice.

[Buster Highmen]

More Weird Mating Habits: (1) In October, researchers said they had tagged a great white shark and tracked him 12,400 miles over nine months, from Africa to Australia and back again, ostensibly seeking to mate; according to the report in the journal Science, sex was the best explanation because food was so plentiful around Africa. (2) The male nursery web spider uses a cheap trick to get sex, according to an October report in the journal Biology Letters; the male gives the larger female a dead insect, then collapses, feigning death, distracting the female, which turns to the insect, at which point the male springs back to life and mounts her. (On the other hand, the female sometimes just eats the male, after or instead of copulating.) [New York Post, 10-7-05] [Daily Telegraph (London), 10-5-05]

[Foggy_Goggles]

We've gone red!

Plenty of natural activity was visable from I-70 and inbounds today.

http://geosurvey.state.co.us/Avalanche/images/danger_rose/NorthernM120320051659.jpg

[Foggy_Goggles]

There was a close call in Mines 2, northeast of Berthoud Pass, Sunday morning. The fourth skier in a party triggered a small slide that then propagated to 100' wide, but avoided being caught. Two skiers were waiting below, 50-60' up the opposite gully wall. The first avalanche caught and partially buried them, and then triggered a sympathetic release 200' above the trapped skiers. The second slide fully buried one of the trapped skiers, and buried the other to their neck. The fully buried skier was found within a few minutes. 32165484894643

[lemon boy]

Wow. It hasn't been a month since the guy was killed in M1.

[homerjay]

Who the fuck would ski the mines chutes during an avy warning?:nonono2: :nonono2:

[Foggy_Goggles]

Who the fuck would ski the mines chutes during an avy warning?:nonono2: :nonono2:

I'm sure I'll find out tonight at the avi class at The Pub.

[lemon boy]

Foggy- do you know where "F" gully is?

[Foggy_Goggles]

Foggy- do you know where "F" gully is?Veru heard of it. Everyone has different names though. I don't see in on Avalanchemapper's map either (http://www.avalanche.org/%7ewxstns/grandnet/LOVELAND.html)

[lemon boy]

Skied the basin yesterday (coverage inbounds is UNBELIEVABLE) and snapped a couple quick pics of the avy from last week. Holy shit, that guy is LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_49141.jpg

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_49143.jpg

http://www.biglines.com/photos/normal/biglines_49142.jpg

[Toby]

Wow, that slope looks too flat to slide, even at the crown face where it's steepest. Nice shots.

[Z]

Dug a few pits today on a Northern aspect on Vail pass.

Snowpack in two separate locations about shoulder high (im 6'4)

-Top 6-10 inches somewhat fresh powder/day old blower snow. Sluff.
-About 1.5-2 feet down was where my tests would shear. This new snow, and some consolidated/set-up snow on top was sitting on a layer of sugar snow. The pack sheared everytime at this point. Not an especially hard "pop" out, but same place, same time, everytime.
-Under this sugar was more sugar(depth hoar i believe). After the initial 2 feet popped out this was the hard slap underlying. This would shear almost to the ground, 3 foot deep blocks popped out. In a wide open open, exposed area if this would break loose, it would be fucking scary. But it took alot of force to pop(5-7 for the shoulder,"hard"). This would scare me in open/exposed situations, but in the trees that top 2 feet is what I felt we needed to worry about.

Basically from about 2 feet from the top down, all hoar (sugar).


P.S. I considered myself a Novice in this area, and generally would not feel comfortable making the assessment myself based on a pit. BUT this is what I think I found.

In other words, if you have any advice/knowledge/opinion/criticism on what I've wrote, please share. Learn me.:D

[lemon boy]

Toby- All of my pictures have the illusion of flatness to them so it's a little decieving. I'd estimate that it is in the middle to upper 30s (don't know for sure). Frequently with smaller slides they stop around the bottom of the first picture but then the larger ones continue down where the pitch steepens up a fair bit. It also gets a fair amount of windloading.

[kailas]

Southern Rockies, raining for two years in a row in December, can't beleive
it myself.

[vinn]

This is a great thread, hopefully I can add to the good karma.

I spent the last three days in the backcountry west of Leadville (Tennessee Pass area). There's plenty of good skiing, but we did find a few disturbing things.

North facing aspects were quite wind scoured and bulletproof in places. NE, E, and SE aspects were holding snow well. There were quite a few slides, including some large slabs down to the ground, above treeline above 12000' mostly on E facing slopes. Southern aspects were wind loaded and we didn't ski any above treeline. We didn't get on, or even really see, any W slopes.

Pits were dug on the slopes we skied, S and E. We found snow conditions similar to what's been reported here. A large amount of depth hoar (2') near the ground and a few weak layers on top. At treeline they sheered at about 3' down when hit from the elbow.

On to the disturbing part. The past three days have been very warm and A LOT of crust formed everywhere. At Copper it's been snowing an inch an hour all night, I imagine many other places nearby have gotten the same. Not so yummy.

[Lurch]

Skied the basin yesterday (coverage inbounds is UNBELIEVABLE) and snapped a couple quick pics of the avy from last week. Holy shit, that guy is LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY.



I put your photos together using autostitch to give a little better perspective to the size of the slide.

[lemon boy]

good job Lurch

[Lurch]

good job Lurch

All I did was put the images into the program it did all of the work. It really is an amazing application www.autostitch.net

[lemon boy]

wow! good find!

[hev]

From the CAIC daily report(I don't think a full accident report is available yet).


Yesterday near Cameron Pass in the N mtns an avalanche claimed the lives of two snowmobilers who were completely buried. In all, seven were caught and five people were partly buried. The avalanche was on a NNW facing slope that was 35 degrees in steepness at 10,800 feet. It broke less than 3 feet deep, was some 150 feet wide and ran about 600 feet. This is preliminary information and subject to change. Ethan Greene, CAIC director, visited the site today and we will have more details and updates as they become available.

some pics:
http://www.powderbuzz.com/images/obs/trappark_010206/DSC01235.jpg
http://www.powderbuzz.com/images/obs/trappark_010206/DSC01233.jpg
http://www.powderbuzz.com/images/obs/trappark_010206/DSC01231.jpg
...
http://www.powderbuzz.com/obs.php

...
some contributions of my own:
I spent the last 3 days skiing in the Berthoud Pass area and did find some very tender areas, although managable conditions overall. New snow from the last few days was consolidating fairly nicely but a wind slab layer sitting on a layer of burried surface hoar still exists especially on eastern facing aspects. Above treeline considerable wind was still present and wind formations and loading was occuring dramatically in the usual spots. We were careful to avoid undercutting windloaded slopes as well as be leery of loaded convexities. Above treeline was viciously windy and in spots apeared to be very dangerously loaded. For the most part these areas are off limits for now. Snow in north north east areas below treeline was primo. Fairly good consolidation and good bottomless feel to it. A few solid ski cuts on this aspect didn't produce any movement although some of the hanging windloaded areas above these shots looked very suspect and were avoided by my partner and I. Lots of people out yesterday for the holiday but we managed to find good fun lines all day.

[Yossarian]

Bert Pass 01-07-06 quickie

Hasty - SE, ~31 degrees, micro-roll, found wind crust on top, then reasonably consolidated layer followed by distinct sun crust at 30cm, followed by another crust at around 60cm, and one more around ~80cm. Shear tests resulted in pretty high energy layer releases with clean shear surfaces at each crust. Compression tests less conclusive.

Full - ENE, 40+ degrees, wind drift/sub-terrain roll near ~35 degree open slope, wind affected on top but with nicely consolidated/solid layer to perhaps 90cm. Followed by 20cm of refrozen depth hoar, followed by a SCARY 30cm of loose, large grain depth hoar to ground. LOTS of bridging and energy stored in the upper slab...would take a big trigger, but boy...when it goes...yikes. 3 taps from wrist on compression test got a small, fully isolated column to run on sugar just like that, rutch test took more, but popped clean once it went. Chose not to ski open slope.

A good week long freeze-thaw cycle might not be such a bad thing right now.
Recent major wind events clearly evident at and above treeline.

P.S. HHA/Near Floral/80s & 90s were money yesterday AM and today AM, but recent heat has turned much to mank even in places unaffected by wind...

[Yossarian]

01-08-06 PM

AVALANCHE WATCH
COLORADO AVALANCHE INFORMATION CENTER
RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO
319 PM MST SUN JAN 08 2006

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE
COLORADO AVALANCHE INFORMATION CENTER.

...AVALANCHE WATCH BULLETIN FOR THE ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS...

THE COLORADO AVALANCHE INFORMATION CENTER IS ISSUING AN AVALANCHE
WATCH FOR THE ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS, NORTH OF A LINE FROM
KREMMLING TO TOPONAS.

IN THE PAST 24 HOURS ALMOST A FOOT OF SNOW HAS FALLEN.

THE AVALANCHE DANGER IS HIGH ON NORTH TO EAST TO SOUTH ASPECTS AND
CONSIDERABLE ON OTHER ASPECTS. TRIGGERED AVALANCHES BY BACKCOUNTRY
TRAVELERS ARE PROBABLE TO LIKELY ON MOST ASPECTS AND ELEVATIONS.
WITH STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY SNOWS OVERNIGHT THE BACKCOUNTRY
AVALANCHE DANGER WILL RISE.

BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS IN THE ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS ARE
URGED TO USE EXTRA CAUTION AND AVOID SLOPES STEEPER THAN 30
DEGREES...AND AVOID TRAVELING UNDER STEEP SLOPES. SIZABLE AVALANCHES
MAY BE TRIGGERED FROM BELOW.

THIS STATEMENT IS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO PERSONS USING THE
BACKCOUNTRY OUTSIDE DEVELOPED SKI AREA BOUNDARIES. WHEN NECESSARY
SKI AREAS USE AVALANCHE CONTROL METHODS WITHIN THEIR BOUNDARIES.

FOR ADDITIONAL AVALANCHE INFORMATION...CALL...970-482-0457 IN FORT
COLLINS...719-520-0020 IN COLORADO SPRINGS...970-668-0600 IN SUMMIT
COUNTY...719-395-4994 IN BUENA VISTA...970-247-8187 IN DURANGO...
303-275-5360 IN DENVER. OR VISIT OUR WEB PAGE AT
WWW.GEOSURVEY.STATE.CO.US/AVALANCHE.

[Yossarian]

6"-8" new at BP on top of prior report from yesterday/above.
Distinct surface below the new in the 80s, a little punchy.
Better in HHA trees, but SUGAR underneath like a mofo on NW aspect.
If it gets/stays cold and clear, that pack is going to rot like no other, and the next time we get a big dump, something over there will go, North Chute/Mines/etc.
Z and I also noted what looked like a small ski-cut released slab in the obvious start zone at the top of the NE facing hollywood line on the W side. No obvious deposition or tracks, so it may have just sluffed out, but still...

Heads up!

[hev]

New snow and strong winds created another layer of slab, especially on the leeward slopes and gullies. These new slabs may be tender and prone to triggered release.

wow, so this has been pretty much the story for how long now, the last week and a half?

[pde20]

Dawn patrol action on the north side of I-70 near Loveland ski area offered up the following information, in additon to some smooth turns this AM.

Pit dug on east facing lightly treed slope, 33 degree roll over, at approx 11,400 ft. Total depth of pack ~ 170 cm, with ~ 8 cm of new wind affected 1finger hardness snow (creamy, not crusty) siting atop a sizeable ~130 cm slab medium density snow (2 finger) snow , with perhaps one ill defined crust or boundary at middle of layer. Crust at ~ 30 cm, with layer of refrozen depth hoar (depth hoar that didn't flow like sugar unless you distrubed it, i.e. it had some cohesion to it but was obviouisly faceted.) After three whacks from the shoulder the column failed in compression on the 30 cm crust.

Conditions seemed pretty solid, though I would hate to find the spot that would trigger a slide brining down 80% of the depth of the pack in this area. We watched our rollovers and possible thin spots but had a good safe morning.

[lemon boy]

trelease?

[pde20]

trelease?

Si. Si. Si.

[FrankZappa]

^^^^Bump for updates^^^^

So... what are you seein' out there these days?

Below TL last weekend was bombproof (E Indy pass), I couldn't get a column to go w/o full body weight (& then it took a couple) & a fairly consistent pak - at least the top 5 ft or so.

- above was a different story- good sized E aspect naturals (or w/ some cornice help).

Lots of sun crusts & surface conditions that should make things interesting soon... maybe even today.

[Poop~Ghost]

was up at berthoud pass yesterday and noticed that the 2-3 inches ontop of the crust was sloughing off in the steep chutes. it's a heavy ice crust layer under, but not enough snow to be a problem yet (as of yesterday), but with more snow, it's gonna cut loose quick.

ended up just skiing the trees on the west aspect...

[Poop~Ghost]

Was again at Berthoud this morning and noticed two fresh avies across the south-east facing rock bands. Both looked ski triggered and probably happened yesterday. If you were looking from the parking lot, the left crown looked to be about 100 feet across, starting near the top of the bands. Crown was only 6-12" deep from what I could tell from my vantage point. Lots of debris.

The 2nd avy was on the right most point on the rock band, visible from the lot. Again, probably 100 feet across - looked like tracks started it. Fairly thin crown.

Wish I had my camera w/ me... oh well. Snow sucked, but at least I was out.

[Vicious]

Was again at Berthoud this morning and noticed two fresh avies across the south-east facing rock bands. Both looked ski triggered and probably happened yesterday. If you were looking from the parking lot, the left crown looked to be about 100 feet across, starting near the top of the bands. Crown was only 6-12" deep from what I could tell from my vantage point. Lots of debris.

The 2nd avy was on the right most point on the rock band, visible from the lot. Again, probably 100 feet across - looked like tracks started it. Fairly thin crown.

Wish I had my camera w/ me... oh well. Snow sucked, but at least I was out.

We were up there today too. Didn't see tracks on the looker's right crown, but didn't look too hard either. Not too sure who'd be silly enough to traverse in under those rocks.

I'm never good with the names of the areas around BP, but there was a large slide up in one of the eastern facing bowls. We hiked over into Floral and had a good vantage point from there...looked as those portions of the cornice had fallen.

Creepy to see that Hollywood had slid as my tracks from two days ago are now covered in avy debris.

[iskibc]

Lot's of faceting above and below that dust layer. The next storm cycle will be interesting to say the least. It is my guess this layer will not be broken down and will last through the spring season.

[riderspro]

Got my first look at the dust layer yesterday. I don't remember seeing anything like it. It was at least 3 cm thick in several places at Breck. It was primarilly on the South facing aspects where I was. Hopefully we can get a nice fresh snow layer on top of it to at least bury it for a little while before it totally destroys the base.

[Hacksaw]

Here is a link to some photos I took of the dust layer over on the CAIC website.

http://geosurvey.state.co.us/avalanche/Default.aspx?tabid=427

Cheers,
Halsted

[Lurch]

Skiing in the Montezuma area today one of our group kicked off a small slide. It was 2 feet deep, 200 feet wide and ran 300 - 400 feet, on a north aspect at elevation ~11,400. The slab ran on top of the dust layer.

I was the first one down and nothing moved for me the 2nd in our group of four went and traversed through a pillow which started the slide. He had enough momentum that he was able to ski out of it to safety.

I've skied this slope several times with out any activity since the dust storm but always avoided the pillow. It just took one skier hitting the right spot to make it run.

[spthomson]

Skiing in the Montezuma area today one of our group kicked off a small slide. It was 2 feet deep, 200 feet wide and ran 300 - 400 feet, on a north aspect at elevation ~11,400. The slab ran on top of the dust layer.

I was the first one down and nothing moved for me the 2nd in our group of four went and traversed through a pillow which started the slide. He had enough momentum that he was able to ski out of it to safety.

I've skied this slope several times with out any activity since the dust storm but always avoided the pillow. It just took one skier hitting the right spot to make it run.

Any idea on slope angle?

Was skiing near the Equity Mine around zuma last Thursday. One quite small "point" release that did not propogate much at all, likely had been skier triggered, that started at the edge of a rock outcrop, looked to have run on the dust layer, a day or more earlier. Our snowpit analysis provided pretty easy & clean shears on both tap & shovel shear tests, but not alot of energy. Failure was at the top of the dust layer on the tap test, and started there, but went through to the bottom of the dust layer on the shear test. (The actual dust layer is thin, but faceting fairly signifcant above the dust). Rutchblock test wasn't perfectly executed, but a failure was much more difficult in that test. It wasn't the most representative slope of what we were aiming to ski, but it was the best we could get. A ski cut at the top of the slope we did ski didn't provide any results, and we both skied the line without any further sign of instability.

[Lurch]

Any idea on slope angle?

Was skiing near the Equity Mine around zuma last Thursday. One quite small "point" release that did not propogate much at all, likely had been skier triggered, that started at the edge of a rock outcrop, looked to have run on the dust layer, a day or more earlier. Our snowpit analysis provided pretty easy & clean shears on both tap & shovel shear tests, but not alot of energy. Failure was at the top of the dust layer on the tap test, and started there, but went through to the bottom of the dust layer on the shear test. (The actual dust layer is thin, but faceting fairly signifcant above the dust). Rutchblock test wasn't perfectly executed, but a failure was much more difficult in that test. It wasn't the most representative slope of what we were aiming to ski, but it was the best we could get. A ski cut at the top of the slope we did ski didn't provide any results, and we both skied the line without any further sign of instability.

The slope angle at the fracture line was ~38 degrees. Lower down the slope kicks up in to the low 40s but the slide didn't continue down even though it was running onto the steeper section of the slope.

[Knockneed Man]

Here's a classic Colorado sight... From what I gather 13 people went into Maroon Bowl on 3/24/06 and the thirteenth person hit the sweet spot. Thingy about it is, it was the second skier triggered avie in Maroon that week, and the third on the West side of Highlands Ridge that week.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a213/knockneed/IMG_0649.jpg

[spthomson]

Here's a classic Colorado sight... From what I gather 13 people went into Maroon Bowl on 3/24/06 and the thirteenth person hit the sweet spot. Thingy about it is, it was the second skier triggered avie in Maroon that week, and the third on the West side of Highlands Ridge that week.


Ah, yes, spatial variability. There was another report of a slide with multiple tracks nearby off Loveland Pass just the other day. Does look like the slide may have started just to lookers left of those rocks popping through, likely weak spots/trigger points in the pack.

[jSki]

There were multiple slides on east loveland pass today and 1 on the professor. We witnessed a skier trigger a small slide about half way down the prefessor from the ridge, he skied off to the side fine. The slide looked about 60ft wide and travelled about 300 feet. Also some slides at loveland ski area up on the east facing top ridge. These all ocurred in the afternoon once the sun heated the snow up. I was planning on going up to berthoud tomorow, anyone have a condition report.

[Shredhead]

Here's a classic Colorado sight... From what I gather 13 people went into Maroon Bowl on 3/24/06 and the thirteenth person hit the sweet spot. Thingy about it is, it was the second skier triggered avie in Maroon that week, and the third on the West side of Highlands Ridge that week.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a213/knockneed/IMG_0649.jpg



KM:

How late in the day did that slide? It was starting to get pretty warm Friday and Saturday. We hit multiple runs down eastern aspects Sunday and Monday without any signs of instablity problems.

[Knockneed Man]

That was from a week ago. Not sure what time of day, as it happened on Friday and I took the pic on Saturday on our way out the Ridge to ski Marta's Chute.