Colorado Weather Discussion Thread

[montanaskier]

got a really bad cough and can't sleep. Hasn't snowed in town since early yesterday evening. Not sure if the mountain got anymore or not. Not sure what happened as radar returns were promising, tons of moisture streaming in, and was nuking....then it just stopped and not another flake. Curious to see reports in the morning.

[PowTron]

8" at Vail, 10" at Loveland...

19" at Crested Butte

Think I may mosey on up to Vail right now. Gotta burn this Vacation Day.

[Puffin]

got a really bad cough and can't sleep. Hasn't snowed in town since early yesterday evening. Not sure if the mountain got anymore or not. Not sure what happened as radar returns were promising, tons of moisture streaming in, and was nuking....then it just stopped and not another flake. Curious to see reports in the morning.

dang where in EC are ya. I live in Vail proper and it's been snowing all night and is still snowing now. I'll tell ya I have a heck of alot more snow on my porch than 8"

[Spyplane]

I picked the wrong Monday (last monday) to call in sick to work. Oh well, out of state for Christmas so you guys will get pounded on when I'm gone, it works like that every year.

[Campo]

Hey Gratzo...what is on the menu for this weekend?

[montanaskier]

dang where in EC are ya. I live in Vail proper and it's been snowing all night and is still snowing now. I'll tell ya I have a heck of alot more snow on my porch than 8"

Eagle-Vail. 4" at the house but we got that before 6pm yesterday then another 1" this morning around 5am. I suspect the mountain picked up at least 4" of that total yesterday. It was an ok snow, we just need so much more.

[montanaskier]

SNOWPACK
WILL GLAZE AND CRUST OVER...ESPECIALLY ON SOUTH-FACING SLOPES.


man that sounds sweet. Gonna be a long week to 10 days, exactly what we didn't need.

[Puffin]

SNOWPACK
WILL GLAZE AND CRUST OVER...ESPECIALLY ON SOUTH-FACING SLOPES.


man that sounds sweet. Gonna be a long week to 10 days, exactly what we didn't need.

This is getting pretty rough. We need high pressure to get the fuck outta here.

Not going to lie though, today at Vail was pretty legitimately fun taking into account the fact that its all frontside. They opened 10 and a buncha other terrain. I definitely got some thigh deep turns in windloaded areas in northeast bowl. And a huge core shot.

[Gregger]

The Beav had some great snow in spots today! Good day!

Break the Omega!!

[Cross]

Today was very good day. Ventured into the trees for the first time today. They are actually skiing very well. You can not ski them very aggressive but if you stay light and just cruise you do not break through to the heavier layer of snow covering the logs and rocks. I am getting sick of the cloudy days though. I can't tell you the last time I skied under the sun. The snow came down heavy on and off all day, a little over 2" fell through out the day. In between heavy snow falls you could see most everywhere around was under clear skis. It has been a crazy weather pattern so far this year. When checking the radar it was very isolated snow hitting us. It looked just like what you see with lake effect snow from the Great Lakes, Narrow bands of snow that do not move but keep producing snow.

The snow pack is anything but stable. This morning driving the cat across a cat track the snow 40' out in front and to the side of the cat track on the uphill side was fracturing like crazy. I was surprised it did not slide onto the cat track after I drove by though. Some of the areas in the trees you could feel a weak layer underneath collapse and the whole area around you would drop. Enough signs for me to stay out of the back country though.

[Gregger]

^^^agreed. Tried out a couple of light runs through the trees and there is 0 cohesion with the new layer. Saw some fracture lines along the steeper roped off slopes. The worst part was watching idiots duck the rope and cut tracks 2 feet above the fracture line. I was really surprised they didn't slide.

[Cross]

The snow this year is having problems. The East Ridge at Sunlight was ski cut twice today then they let about a dozen skiers go down it. They do not want to bomb it because when it goes it is going all the way to dirt. So they are just being very cautious and letting select skiers on it every so often to try and get it packed down.

I heard Highlands bowl slid to dirt even after they had it boot packed.

[funkendrenchman]

I heard Highlands bowl slid to dirt even after they had it boot packed.

Yea, stay away. There was nothing but dirt up there today. Whole bowl, dirt!

[JoeStrummer]

Yea, stay away. There was nothing but dirt up there today. Whole bowl, dirt!

Thanks for the beta, great timing. I was leading 13 busloads of Lutheran Fellowship of Minnesota skiers up there tomorrow. Guess we'll go to A-Basin, instead.

[PowTron]

Vail was WAY better then I expected today, and that 8" was much deeper then that in many, many spots.

The snow is amazingly volatile right now, though. I don't think I have ever seen that many fractures, slabs, and overall hazard inbounds at a resort, period.

Many tight tree lines that just decided to rip down to the rock behind me and fracture about 3 feet deep 20 feet across.

[Rontele]

I would gander to say we got between 16-18 inches of snow from Saturday through yesterday morning at Eiseman. The skiing improved each day, but there is really no base to speak of.

[Gregger]

Long range models are starting to turn a little more snowy before Christmas. Keep your fingers/skis/nuts/etc crossed.

[Name Redacted]

I would gander to say we got between 16-18 inches of snow from Saturday through yesterday morning at Eiseman. The skiing improved each day, but there is really no base to speak of.

We are headed up to Janet's on Thursday, hope the snow keeps up!

[gratzo]

Skied Highlands on Monday. And I agree with others - all dirt, no fun:-) Maybe a weak storm with a few inches along and north of I-70 on Thurs/Fri, and again maybe late in the weekend, though these are weak storms and if they more a few miles off course, we'll be skunked. Next good storm looks like early next week toward Christmas time.

[montanaskier]

am I seeing another ridge for the start of next week?

[funkendrenchman]

am I seeing another ridge for the start of next week?

I dunno, NOAA already has "Chance of Snow" for Tuesday.

[Gregger]

No ridge. Dirty ridge is breaking down with the jet pointed at CA and running through CO. Artic air sliding in too. Looks good.

[montanaskier]

good news, maybe just looking at stuff wrong. We really need a really snowy 10 days or so.

[Rontele]

long term model consistency (both btw models and btw model runs) is currently t3h suck. Anything past this weekend is a crapshoot.

[Gregger]

^^^^^Totally agree. It seems to have been worse this season with model inconsistencies. Anything outside the 48hr window could really go either way.