that is a ton of new snow...unreal.
Printable View
that is a ton of new snow...unreal.
Wife and some friends did some digging outside of Beaver Creek on Sun. Dug on a westerly aspect at about 11,200. Pack was roughly 5 feet deep. Hard slab right below the foot of newer. Pretty well consolidated pack in this pit. Most troubling was the basal facets...pure sugar garbage on the ground. Deep slab instabilities are a concern. I bet some stuff goes BIG before the year is up. RB5 test score
Anyone know anymore about this?:
Quote:
The only report of avalanche activity came in from the East Vail area. A skier triggered slide that ran close to 1000' on a west, northwest aspect at treeline. The fracture line was just over three feet deep.
sounds like a HUGE slide near Eiseman.....all mags safe?
Snook told us about it yesterday, which was a little spooky for some of the guys on patrol because they had skied that line a couple days before. He did say that everyone was fine though.
Dug a pit on a E-NE aspect at roughly 10,500 ft. on a 33-34 degree slope near Brainard Lake (Ward, CO). Snow was well consolidated and withstood 7 from the shoulder before failing in a shovel test. It was a clean fracture about 10" down. After 12 taps from the shoulder, another layer broke off about 2.5ft down from the surface. The weak layers were both pretty obvious from poking the snowpack, but as a whole it was apparent that the snowpack was pretty solid. We skied the slope without incident and as we were starting to leave a few flakes began coming down (signs of things to come? :))
Dug a pit up at Berthoud today on a windloaded NE facing slope behind Postage Stamp (a line I've heard called Corner Pocket?). The snowpack was 180cm from surface to ground. Only significant weak layer was a crust about a foot above the ground .5-1" thick. The new wet snow was already settled and compacted, looked to be bonding well to the old snow. There are still some facets directly on the ground, but they looked to be bonding better than in other places I've seen and were not reactive in the shovel compression test. Shovel compression test result was hard (CH), failing at the crust and one other shear about 2.5 - 3 feet from the ground on the 1st tap from the shoulder. Nothing moved at all with wrist and elbow taps. We performed a ski cut on the NE slope (maybe 30-35 degrees - should've measured it, but didn't) with no obvious signs of instability, even sloughing was minimal. New snow on this line was windloaded and knee to crotch deep. If it had been lighter, it would've been endless faceshots all the way down. Everything stayed put, and the run was a blast.
Fairly entertaining (by 14ers.com standards) thread regarding the recent avalanche on Torrey's E face. http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17737
edit: Dude's TR is even better, including photos of the powder cloud and debris he created: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripre...&cpgm=tripmain
Frank, I am sure that with B out, that dude could take her spot. Maybe you, him, and an E face of Capital line?
Dude's got mad skillz, yo. Good idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by montanaskier
Saturday @ Jones pass
East aspect, near and above TL
The new ~2-6" of snow to old snow wind crust interface is really weak.
It would shear cleanly when sidehilling on the ski up and would break off in very localized slabs on the way down on hard cuts.
This will definitely be something to keep an eye on when we get some more snow.
Saturday just below the lost lake chutes near Eldora at ~10,000 ft.
North aspect near treeline.
The top inch or two failed during column isolation, and also sheared cleanly when sidehilling.
The next failure was CTM-H about a foot down and a Q3 failure. Other than that, not too much to worry about for now...
There was a definite crust skiing down that broke off into tiny slabs.
I saw one shooting crack that shot out maybe 10 ft. underneath me but it was only that really shallow 1-2" windslab
All in all, it's relatively safe out there but definitely dig a pit before you head into anything bigger
Tuesday, 100 ft above treeline on Loveland pass.
South facing aspect.
215 cm snowpack
Top layer was a foot deep wind slab layer that failed during column isolation.
Next layer was the recent snow, about six inches deep. It appeared to be consolidated and also failed upon column isolation.
Next layer was a pencil hard, two feet deep crust layer. It appeared to have minor faceting on the top of the layer.
Next layer was a less than an inch thick, extremely hard, near ice layer.
Next layer was extremely similar to the 3rd crust layer. Same faceting and hardness.
And that is where our pit ended.
Some potential danger is there for sure. Funky stuff. We performed a ski cut on the same face and only got some slough to go.
dig a pit or three. i personally don't trust the results of a single pit.Quote:
Originally Posted by highflyingpilot
is there one for this season yet? I know whats coming. :fm:
Sunday Avalanche - Rocky Mountain National Park
I wasn't there but my friend who was told me a bit about it
He said Northerly aspect
in a couloir
not sure if they dug a pit but I kinda doubt it
1 foot deep, 100 feet across (basically the whole couloir), and it ran "like a thousand feet" in his words
One skier was carried down with it
Only casualty was a lost ski that was never found
Eight reported in Colorado in October 2009
Plus anything here in slide zone not in CAIC and non reported.
http://avalanche.state.co.us/pub/acc...ident=20091101
Thanks for sharing this useful information. It's great.
this is interesting.. thanks so much for sharing!
crazy wumphing at Uncle Bud's hut this w/e.
I don't know if I've ever seen Uneva rip this big. Anyone have more details on who triggered it?
http://summitvoice.files.wordpress.c...1/dsc_0005.jpg
Haven't been posting in this thread at all. It is obvious that our snowpack is for shit stability wise.
St Vrain Mtn/Meadow mountain 1/10. 12-18" well developed depth hoar overlain by 12-24" of varying powder, softslab, hardslab, and mixed combos. The one unifying theme was whummmphfffing everwhere. Here a whummphff, there a whummmpff, everywhere a whummmph, whummphfs. Cracks propagating tree to tree. Anything undisturbed and steep enough will have a pretty good chance of sliding and/or remote triggering something else.
Skiing was pretty good below treeline with velvety soft windblown powder, albeit thin.
I read about it but hadn't seen it....that is HUGE. Scary stuff....I've skied that line in the spring and the chutes in the right of the pic but only in the spring.Quote:
Originally Posted by MakersTeleMark
Date: Saturday, January 16, 2010
Location: Braddock Peak, south side of Cameron Pass
Pit info: NE aspect at 11.5k
Total depth = 145cm
Bottom 65cm was pure sugar
Interestingly enough, we dug another pit a little further down with similar slab/sugar structures and it passed multiple full body rutschblock jumps. Seems like the recent freeze/thaw did a number on the mid and top layers but I imagine that junk snow at the bottom will ultimately persist into April.
So while it appears the snowpack can withstand a healthy amount of stress, if and when it breaks, you can very well expect disastrous outcomes.
http://thomas-armento.smugmug.com/Ot...2_cPfDZ-XL.jpg
The S-shaped line off the summit was our intended line, but equipment failure stopped us prematurely:
http://thomas-armento.smugmug.com/Ot...42_P3WiV-L.jpg
Here's a first person account from the Grand Mesa slide:
Skier: ‘I saw myself sliding quickly to my burial'
Avalanche survivor Seth Anderson recounts his first descent of Thunderbird couloir
Seth Anderson
Special to the Daily
Seth Anderson climbs the Grand Mesa Thunderbird couloir. He and Ann Driggers made the first known descent on skis March 17. Unfortunately, most of Anderson's trip down the steep mountain was face first sans skis wrapped in an avalanche.
Seth Anderson climbs the Grand Mesa Thunderbird couloir. He and Ann Driggers made the first known descent on skis March 17. Unfortunately, most of Anderson's trip down the steep mountain was face first sans skis wrapped in an avalanche.
Seth Anderson climbs the Grand Mesa Thunderbird couloir. He and Ann Driggers made the first known descent on skis March 17. Unfortunately, most of Anderson's trip down the steep mountain was face first sans skis wrapped in an avalanche. Ann Driggers Special to the Daily
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — It might be the only chance for decades to ski the Grand Mesa Thunderbird. The legend and existence of the Thunderbird couloir was my life-long passion which no one else seemed to share.
I've looked up at the natural formation with wonder before I knew its name. I longed to view, hike, and perhaps even ski it up close.
The Grand Mesa is not a mountaineer's typical query, but the North Turret has merit — if not for rugged shape and local proximity, then for the Ute's legend of the terrifying Thunderbird story played out in hieroglyphic form on its steep slopes. The local Utes believed the light-colored shale appeared as a wing-spread Thunderbird grabbing a long skinny serpent-like chute rarely visible from below. When a coming storm's light shows the Thunderbird grab the Serpent, it rains in the valley. I have witnessed this just once in 1992.
My brother, Dirk, and I scrambled up the Thunderbird route in September 2009 and found it enjoyable but a “bushhacky” climb above and below. Having an indomitable thirst for intriguing and hard-won ski routes, Ann Driggers, president and CEO of the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, was fired up to go after years of me mentioning it.
Ann and I left Rapid Creek Trailhead at 5 a.m. March 17, 2010. Hiking the dark road till snow coverage at about 6,000-feet elevation required flotation. We put skins on our ski bases and schussed upward crossing a meadow and entering thick low-slung brambles. The sun broke on the glowing Bookcliffs below as we bobbed and weaved through snags of oakbrush. We stepped onward to the bottom of the narrow Serpent Chute.
We fixed skis to our packs crawling and kick-stepping up the barely covered Serpent Chute to the wider Thunderbird couloir above. Reaching the crest, we paused for a break. We decided the west-facing couloir had not had enough sun to soften it from its hardened state. We skinned steeply toward the basalt-capped summit. I spied a possible scrambling route to try at a later date. We beamed from the great mountain climbing experience we had enjoyed that is within view and reach of our homes.
At about 11:30 a.m., Ann and I skied down to the head of the great bird. I followed Ann “skiers left” out onto the sharp beak. We skied to center, then left again on mostly icy snow. I decided to ski back into the Serpent's gullet. I dropped over a rocky knoll into an open snow patch. The rough textured snow cracked, rumbled and dialed open like a 3-D puzzle.
“No! Stop, Ann!” I yelled behind me. I tried to force a turn to get out of the slide but was immediately sucked under the snow.
I was screaming face down, snow chunks and loose powder surrounded my entire being. It was exactly as I had envisioned being in an avalanche, only rougher. I saw myself sliding quickly to my burial, suffocating and freezing solid in cement-like snow.
I tried to swim and kick to the surface and get my feet pointed down. The snow pounded my face to the rock and debris. I persisted — just as the slide caught air I was freed to put my now ski-less backcountry boots below me.
I was surrounded by snow and launched off of an abrupt drop. I hit hard and my legs crumpled. The thickened snow slammed me without pause and bludgeoned me blindly through hard trees and over two smaller drops. The trees grew denser. I was spit out and slid in slow motion onto a sloping ledge. I clung to a slender tree suspending me above another 80-foot drop.
I was relieved not to be buried and able to breathe. I was horrified when my legs did not move with my body. I was in shock and yelled for Ann to find me. “Are you OK, Seth!?” she shouted back. “I'm HERE!” I replied.
Blood dribbled past my eyes onto my phone as I dialed 911. “I am on the west face of Grand Mesa on the north side of Rapid Creek just above Palisade. I've just been in an avalanche triggered fall on the Thunderbird Couloir,” I said trying to stay calm. I vaguely recall the responder: “Thunder-what? You're kind of breaking up, sir...”
Ann skied up next to me on the ledge, “Oh my God, Seth, are you OK?” I repositioned my crushed legs uphill to slow my bleeding and handed her my phone. My cellphone signal was gone so Ann managed the rescue effort with calming strength.
Just after 1 p.m. Ann called 9-1-1 and coordinated with Mesa County Search and Rescue and Powderhorn Ski Patrol's Rondo Beuchler. Rondo is also the owner of Palisade's Rapid Creek Cycles and knows the area better than most.
My pack and skis were gone, only my uninsulated Loki shell covered me as I shivered immobile, contemplating the blood once soft inside my legs now stiffening into huge and painful trunks to compensate for lack of solid bone structure. I suggested that I should wrap a belt tightly at least around my left leg which was broken at the femur and swelling more dramatically. Rondo insisted not to try it if I wasn't bleeding through. Ann handed me her light down jacket as she improved a platform and prepared the rescuers.
Around 4 p.m., St. Mary's Careflight helicopter blades pounded the air and searched for a safe place to land below us. Pilot Bill Reed landed Search and Rescue's Jose Iglesias, Joanne Black and flight nurses Tom Feller and Rob Klimek to climb up to our ledge. They set up IV fluid and painkillers to essentially save me. By now the shock had worn off and I was in serious, sometimes vocal pain.
I was elated to have Sanadam, Rich Moody, Bob Marquis, Terry and many more search and rescue members be so calming and strong. They made me want to live beyond the delicate thoughts of my new son, Asa, and loving family. The IV fluid was my nemesis. I wanted water to moisten my throat so bad but I was only allowed to eat snow. Sensible for surgery... I wasn't sure I could hold together for the hospital.
Many more well spirited and strong search and rescue members arrived to help. I was soon strapped to a rescue basket and rappelled down the initial drop. We trudged across several more stepped slopes to one more rope lowering to the waiting helicopter.
By sunset I was delivered via rooftop landing to talented hands and openly kind souls in the new tower at St. Mary's. Dr. Hilty, Dr. Narrod and Dr. Dolecki made lasting artwork of my near fatal orthotic condition. I was saved by technology and intelligence and yet nearly as much by the pure love I have received during my rescue and continuing recovery. I am eternally grateful for more than I could ever repay in my lifetime. It is as if I needed death in my face to realize how many great people I would miss and be letting down.
As I lay reviving two severely broken legs in a St. Mary's patient room, part of a message from Sister Jane McConnell appears:
“To all who are sick or injured let them know that they are loved and held in you careful embrace.”
any updates from this latest storm? mostly curious about San Juan zones
You should repost this on powderbuzz.com. They would appreciate it over there. BTW, that mountain has always been known as No Name(really original). The route you tried to ride is called the Z couloir (really original). Braddock is some CU professor who blew someone at the USGS to get his name on the map.:nonono2:Quote:
Originally Posted by NPG
^^^That was last year. I almost replied to the post above that about the San Juan snowpack a couple weeks ago. However, it's good to know that all I have to do is blow a guy to get Fritz Peak :smile:
X-post from berthoud thread:
I think that's what you call going from bad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Poop*Ghost
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_B...0/IMG_0987.JPG
to worse:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_B...2/IMG_0988.JPG
I clicked on this thread hoping for some new observations perhaps. Newest comments are 2+ years old. Could this be un-stickied?
This may be a shot in the dark, but I'm wondering if anyone has explored the Brainard Lake - Isabelle Glacier area above Boulder, or has a good recommendation for touring on the east side of the divide? I've spent most of my ski years on the other side of the divide, and most recently on the other side of the Atlantic. I'm going through withdrawal from a plethora of off piste options, but don't want to fight traffic with the rest of weekend warriors to stand in line with them once I've reached my destination. I have equipment, but am interested in safety over extreme adventure.... thoughts / ideas?? Also looking for a good partner (s), if there is any reasonable terrain to explore.
Audubon couloir is one of my favorites.
The last time I was up there I saw some cool looking N and E facing lines to the Southwest of Brainard and further up by Long lake, but I have not explored further up to Isabelle glacier. They looked pretty steep and avalanchy though so I would definitely approach that with caution. A different easy and safe option is to go check out hidden valley in RMNP. Moderate slope angle, zero approach, and old ski runs cut through the trees make it a fun outing.Quote:
Originally Posted by mtngrl
Thank you!Quote:
Originally Posted by V-rex
It was years ago, but I've skied the couloir above Isabelle Glacier a couple times (Queens Way Couloir?). Both times were in October I think. It's a bit of a trek, even when the gate is open.
Everything you can see on your way up to Brainard lake can be really good in the right conditions. Those peaks don't get skied much in the winter due to the closing so don't expect much skier compaction. There are a bunch of classic lines off Navajo, Apache, Toll, Paiute, and Audubon. Lots of wind up there most of the the winter so be careful of the slab. Excellent corn in the spring. Bring a bike if you're going before Memorial Day weekend. There's an old book called Front Range Descents that you might be able to find online. The book is dated but still relevant.Quote:
Originally Posted by mtngrl
Definitely a lot of good skiing in the indian peaks. Pawnee peak out of brainard has become a Go-to zone in the spring but there are no shortage of options. It's incredibly beautiful up there. Isabel glacier is also sweet but far... I've skied queensway a couple times; seems like a line that's skiable year round.Quote:
Originally Posted by mtngrl
As others mentioned brainard is a slog when the summer TH is gated, but there are a number of other trailheads on the peak to peak highway that offer decent winter access and mellow terrain. Hessie trailhead in Ned for example. I picked up the front range descents book used on amazon last year. Great resource.
I live up on sugarloaf and I've been exploring the indian peaks for about 2 years. I tend to keep the touring pretty low angle in the winter but love getting into steeps and couloirs in the spring and summer.
PM if you want to make some turns. Eldora got about 6" today so the IPW should be real nice this weekend and next week. Have fun.
Both times were in Octoberhttp://weber.ninecomputer.com/2.jpg
That was my jongitude for failing to mention for those that don't know... Kitchen Wall is on an East aspect, I think around 12,200 or so. It's above the lake on the south side of Loveland pass.
Some slides under Pali with spooky looking fractures: Link.
It was years ago, but I've skied the couloir above Isabelle Glacier a couple times (Queens Way Couloir?). Both times were in October I think. It's a bit of a trek, even when the gate is open.
goldenslot