Colorado Weather Discussion Thread

[cmsummit]

you have a point, except that on saturday it was deep and there was almost no one and that was a SATURDAY for crying out loud. the hype is creating more crowds than would normally and you can't deny that.

It's not really hype though, it's just weather forecasting. You might as well blame NOAA too. The Friday & Saturday snow (12" total) fell with no winter weather advisories in place and FAR exceeded forecasted snowfall amounts. People didn't plan on that, and thus, they didn't drive up from the Front Range to go skiing. Yesterday's/today's storm on the other hand, was forecasted big snowfall by all and people planned on it. Can't really blame people for wanting to go skiing when they know it's coming and can plan on it.

[Danno]

I can't believe we've now resorted to complaining about someone -- a skier who loves pow -- forecasting specifically for pow. Like that's a bad thing. Jesus fuck.

[Soups]

I can't believe we've now resorted to complaining about someone -- a skier who loves pow -- forecasting specifically for pow. Like that's a bad thing. Jesus fuck.

Or complaining about crowds on a late season pow day at the only lift served area open that happens to be on the pass a majority of the people in the most populous area in Colorado buy. Whew that was a mouthful.

[WTF is dat]

dear god that was the biggest shitshow I've ever seen at a basin. Even more than the deep days after vail resorts closed last year... arrived at 8:30 to an already full first lot with cars already heading up to the third lot. Turned around and said fuck it, we'll just go tour somewhere. sheesh.

I'm starting to think opensnow is a shitty thing.. don't even know how many comments from front rangers I saw saying something like "definitely taking monday off!"..

So just to get this straight...

You show up to A-Basin right before opening (your fault) and are somehow amazed that the only mountain still open in the state is busy on a powder day.

You give up and turn around, then proceed to bitch about the fact that Joel is making money by doing something he loves (forecasting powder days for ski resorts)

You are also pissed that people from Denver would have the audacity to come up to the mountains to enjoy a beautiful day of skiing.

You must really be an asshole.

[cold_smoke]

Anyone know if the Elks got anything out of this? General high alpine and access beta for the Aspen area/Elk range would be appreciated if anyone has updates. Looking to ski some 14ers in the area in the next week or two. (Maroons/Castle/Conundrum)... Nothing new on 14ers.com

[rmnpsplitter]

I laugh at anyone who thinks anywhere in summit/eagle co on a pow day would or should not be crowded. It's an hours drive from 4 million people....

Had some work and wife commitments this weekend and today to take care of so I didn't get to enjoy the snow. Looks like it was awesome out there! Jealous that I didn't get in on the goods.

[smitchell333]

Anyone know if the Elks got anything out of this? General high alpine and access beta for the Aspen area/Elk range would be appreciated if anyone has updates. Looking to ski some 14ers in the area in the next week or two. (Maroons/Castle/Conundrum)... Nothing new on 14ers.com

CAIC site has a snowfall reporting part on the front page. http://avalanche.state.co.us/

Here are the other tools I use with data:

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interactive/html/map.html

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/.../colorado.html

[Danno]

Anyone know if the Elks got anything out of this? General high alpine and access beta for the Aspen area/Elk range would be appreciated if anyone has updates. Looking to ski some 14ers in the area in the next week or two. (Maroons/Castle/Conundrum)... Nothing new on 14ers.com

check in with goldenboy/MBSC, they probably have some info. 14erskiers.com

[cold_smoke]

Thanks guys, will check them out.

[bean]

Anyone know if the Elks got anything out of this? General high alpine and access beta for the Aspen area/Elk range would be appreciated if anyone has updates. Looking to ski some 14ers in the area in the next week or two. (Maroons/Castle/Conundrum)... Nothing new on 14ers.com

Yes, quite a bit. Was up at Green-Wilson this weekend and had hoped to do Castle/Conundrum but got shut down by tons of snow.

Some friends got in on Friday morning, said at least 3" fell before they went to bed. I didn't get skinning in until 10:30pm, and it was a foggy blizzardy nightmare the whole way in. Let up lightly Saturday morning then kept snowing most of the day, light break Saturday evening and then absolutely puking snow from sometime after 10pm (but no later than 2am) and dumping until sometime after we were gone. I'd guess 12" total minimum, but it was so wet and warm and heavy that it was insta-consolidating. Depending on loading it settled in to 6-9" of untouched for the most part.

Snowpack was VERY warm, and the new snow had not bonded at all to the dirt/ice layer on top of the old snow. Totally killed our plans for the weekend. A few cold clear nights though and I imagine it'll be in a lot better shape.

[grskier]

Anyone know if the Elks got anything out of this? General high alpine and access beta for the Aspen area/Elk range would be appreciated if anyone has updates. Looking to ski some 14ers in the area in the next week or two. (Maroons/Castle/Conundrum)... Nothing new on 14ers.com

12" + on snowmass ski area (as told by Gwynn's restaurant).

Plenty of snow at my office near the airport.

All the ski reports I've seen from the area lately have been pretty good.

[shera]

dear god that was the biggest shitshow I've ever seen at a basin.

Concur. Don't you people have jobs?

Oh, 2 laps in the beavers was pretty fun til the sun started cooking, about boot-top. Kinda weird with layers in it and almost upside-downish, hooky. Below treeline is just getting weird even into the old pack. Had better turns a couple of days ago on a big north facing line when the storm first came in.

[JaytaeMoney]

Anyone know if the Elks got anything out of this? General high alpine and access beta for the Aspen area/Elk range would be appreciated if anyone has updates. Looking to ski some 14ers in the area in the next week or two. (Maroons/Castle/Conundrum)... Nothing new on 14ers.com

I was at Opa's Taylor hut from Friday-Sunday. On the skin up we had to walk a mile up express creek road before we could put skins on because the road was pretty melted out. Had to remove skis and walk several times until we got to Little Italian Basin.

Snow on and off throughout the entire trip, and yesterday it was absolutely pounding up high and tapered off as we dropped down back towards Ashcroft. Storm totals up high are well over 12" after yesterday and today. The skiing was excellent but the new snow was very reactive on steeper slopes. We were able to ski down express creek almost the entire way back to Ashcroft yesterday after the new snow but it will melt fast. It was coming down wet and heavy even at high elevations. Also consider the dirt layer... once it gets exposed again things will melt even faster.

[Lindahl]

Skinned up Peak 8 at Breck this morning and skied Horseshoe Bowl off the top. Gorgeous morning with no wind and DEEP turns(12"+). Hellz yeah.

Yup. Awesome turns at Breck today. Spitfire, Corsair and E Chair laps were awesome. Definitely faceshots had today. You getting out tomorrow too?

[cold_smoke]

Thanks for all the info, looks like we have some stable weather through the coming weekend at this point.

[Grandyoso]

I guess Buffalo was better than Abasin today.....

[Lindahl]

Sssshhhh

[JaytaeMoney]

Here's one of yours truly from yesterday near little italian saddle... iPhone camera with crappy vis but you get the idea

[habituallybored]

Knee deep outside of Boulder tonight and amazingly dry.

[Foggy_Goggles]

It snowed, people wanted to go skiing. Lots of people headed to the only ski area open within hundred of miles and got fired up that it was busy. Other people went into the backcountry and found plenty of solitude and powder. This is different than any other hyped storm in the last decade how?

In other news the roads didn't even get wet here in the valley but favored aspects up on the pass got an honest foot plus. Nice to get the moisture and slow down the run off.

[The SnowShow]

Ooooo upper east wall was good

[Fritz]

How was the coverage holding up? Heading to Friends via Green-Wilson for 5 nights over Memorial Day weekend.

Yes, quite a bit. Was up at Green-Wilson this weekend and had hoped to do Castle/Conundrum but got shut down by tons of snow.

Some friends got in on Friday morning, said at least 3" fell before they went to bed. I didn't get skinning in until 10:30pm, and it was a foggy blizzardy nightmare the whole way in. Let up lightly Saturday morning then kept snowing most of the day, light break Saturday evening and then absolutely puking snow from sometime after 10pm (but no later than 2am) and dumping until sometime after we were gone. I'd guess 12" total minimum, but it was so wet and warm and heavy that it was insta-consolidating. Depending on loading it settled in to 6-9" of untouched for the most part.

Snowpack was VERY warm, and the new snow had not bonded at all to the dirt/ice layer on top of the old snow. Totally killed our plans for the weekend. A few cold clear nights though and I imagine it'll be in a lot better shape.

[Goatski]

Amazing coverage off Fremont Pass, best I've ever seen it... and not too windblasted! Sun started hitting things around 10:30 in Mayflower, was getting wet by 1:30 below 13K. looked cloudier south as well as over the Sawatch. What a great storm with nicely bonding MayPow

[montanaskier]

Hope it corns up nice for Sunday. The rare bc day with the wife.

[bean]

How was the coverage holding up? Heading to Friends via Green-Wilson for 5 nights over Memorial Day weekend.

Tons of snow up high, might be mostly melted out below treeline by then. Or maybe not.