Loveland tomorrow?

[cooks]

As of the end of the day Monday, there was a small release in patrol bowl, nothing more than recent storm snow. No sign of anything else as far as I could tell. Visibility wasn't spectacular, but definitely nothing went that was large enough make me feel any better about skiing 9 when it does open.

[skiracer88_00]

As of the end of the day Monday, there was a small release in patrol bowl, nothing more than recent storm snow. No sign of anything else as far as I could tell. Visibility wasn't spectacular, but definitely nothing went that was large enough make me feel any better about skiing 9 when it does open.

Loveland's terrain management on the ridge appears to rely pretty heavily on bridging over weak layers. They simply rely on the principle that "if a bomb won't trigger a hard slab, neither will a skier". In many cases, this is true...but not always.

[cooks]

I hear persistent slabs totally are controllable with small hand charges and ski cuts. Super bowl definitely has never slid to the ground after the public has been skiing it for several weeks...

[Mike_Records]

I hear persistent slabs totally are controllable with small hand charges and ski cuts.

Is that sort of like survival of the fittest with Loveland Ski Patrol?

[freshie247]

Patrol was very busy yesterday,..... skiing & sitting inside.

[Hacksaw]

Right....

I heard that Super Bowl ripped out too. Natural avalanche too....

[N1CK.]

Right....

I heard that Super Bowl ripped out too. Natural avalanche too....

slid pretty much to the ground. huge.

[The SnowShow]

Gotta give it up to ABasin's patrol. They got Zuma and all the steeps open two days ago, and it was awesome. They were obviously doing a lot of prep leading up to this storm, as the Cornice face was stable and deep. Too bad Loveland can't get ridge terrain open like Super Bowl until 2/3 of the season is over.

[summit]

Gotta give it up to ABasin's patrol. They got Zuma and all the steeps open two days ago, and it was awesome. They were obviously doing a lot of prep leading up to this storm, as the Cornice face was stable and deep. Too bad Loveland can't get ridge terrain open like Super Bowl until 2/3 of the season is over.

They are doing an amazing job. They had a change in leadership that led to this excellent management.

Loveland will hopefully have a change soon.

[stfu&gbtw]

^ the change in leadership 5 years ago?

[The SnowShow]

They are doing an amazing job. They had a change in leadership that led to this excellent management.

Loveland will hopefully have a change soon.

Was it Al? Or has he been there longer? Regardless, he's awesome, and I love how transparent he is on his blog.

[skiracer88_00]

slid pretty much to the ground. huge.

That's three years in a row! Good job loveland gaper patrol! What is this, amateur hour?

At least you didn't have skiers on that slab for weeks before hand this year!

[Name Redacted]

So the whole state is under an avalanche warning and it's LL patrol's fault that a natural slide occurred in their terrain on a prime aspect for avalanches. They shoulda been up there day and night, throughout the storm cycle and major wind event, boot packing with an army of patrollers to prevent that slide RIGHT!?!?!?

FYI, Zuma is open, but not completely. Most of the steep, wind loaded stuff is still closed.

[The SnowShow]

Wouldn't boot packing that bowl during early season help?

FWIW, Zuma Cornice is open to Durrance. That's certainly steep and wind loaded. And patrol is currently working on getting the rest of the steeps open right now.

Meanwhile, 9 should be open and ready by early Feb.

[hatchgreenchile]

Boot packing early season doesn't help with storm slabs.

[The SnowShow]

Right, but would it help stabilize the layers below the storm layers enough that they could then ski cut or boot pack the storm layers after the big snow, then open up the slope soon after?

[bean]

Boot packing early season doesn't help with storm slabs.

It does help with persistent weak layers at the base of the snowpack though. This time it was a cornice fall in the middle of the night (can't really blame patrol for that) that triggered a persistent slab at the ground (which I'm happy to blame patrol for). Yes, it's difficult terrain, but it's not the only place in the state with similar. Somehow we don't see reports like this coming out from Highlands year after year after year.

[hatchgreenchile]

^ sure does. But massive wind loading at 12k isn't going to be remedied by bootpacking
...

[bean]

But we're not just looking at storm slabs ripping out. Once again, LL patrol has let things on the ridge get to the point where it's ripping out at the ground. Proper early-season control work would have made this slide not particularly noteworthy, instead it indicates they haven't made any changes despite the ridge ripping to the ground over and over.

[hatchgreenchile]

I agree bean. Just saying that no amount of early season boot packing will stop suspect slopes from sliding when big totals or wind stack up . The severity can be mitigated.

[summit]

The severity can be mitigated.

That's the entire goal... And timing

[Name Redacted]

Who is going to bootpack the entire Ridge? LL has 10 times the area of Highlands but 1/20 the number of skiers and patrollers. You guys love the Luv for the same reasons that you hate it. It is like this every year but you keep buying passes and skiing there and playing urban avalanche expert.

[bean]

^ ski bums who'll volunteer a few days of their time for a pass, same as everywhere else.

I took a few years away from LL and the easier drive is all that brought me back. I'd hoped they'd improved things since but clearly they haven't. At this point I'm considering the pass as tickets for Monarch and CB, plus somewhere to ride a chair when I'd rather not head to the backcountry for whatever reason. I certainly don't plan on skiing Super Bowl this year.

Inadequate resources isn't a very good excuse for half-assing a job that could result in someone being killed inbounds.

[Name Redacted]

Inadequate resources isn't a very good excuse for half-assing a job that could result in someone being killed inbounds.

So you want it open, but when they don't open it because of avalanche conditions, and then it slides to the ground, you automatically believe that you have the answer. They are clearly half assing, I doubt any of the patrol were busy attending to the rest of the terrain at the area, or busy scraping Jerrys off the groomers.

BTW, everyone keeps mentioning that Zuma is open, that bowl slid with 15 paying customers on it a few years ago. After patrol had carpet bombed the entire area. Clearly they should have bootpacked it, but for some reason, they still don't....

[bean]

They are clearly half assing, I doubt any of the patrol were busy attending to the rest of the terrain at the area, or busy scraping Jerrys off the groomers.

If they're too busy to control the terrain they have, they need more people.

Some credit due to Loveland, at least people haven't gone for rides or been killed inbounds yet.