Colorado Weather Discussion Thread

[iamTRuTH]

Powtron were you on grizlycorn Kartels today? I talked with someone at the top of #2 on a pair.

[summit]

Keystone has been having a good year this year for sure!

I think the fact that they moved the snowstake a couple years ago from Dercum mountain to north peak has also really helped pad their numbers.

Dercum mountain definitely gets less snow than North Peak and the outback. That's cool with me though because most of the skiing you would want to do is back there anyhow, so having the snow stake in that location makes sense.

It will be interesting to see the averages at keystone now vs a few years ago.... I know Dercum mountain used to average only 220 inches a year... seeing how keystone is already at 160 inches this season I think they will blast through that total.

I think that move would be fair.... but what they are getting at the stake is what I've been getting at my house... where I am running out of places to put the snow.

I cannot ever remember it being this good at Keystone this often. Just stinks that all stashes get hit instantly these days since everyone has fat rockered skis. 10-13 years ago, it wasn't that way.

Today at Keystone there were a few moments where I was choking on my faceshots.

[Name Redacted]

Basin was terrible, snow kept getting in my face and the wind was cold. I couldn't even touch bottom! I hear it is gonna get colder tonight, and darker too. Ugh. At least I got to shovel out my driveway. That was the real fun. Knee deep, and thigh deep of frozen chunks from the plow at the entrance. Sick!

[summit]

At one point today, there was a gust of wind and all the snow fell off the trees I was skiing under... so much snow got in the air that things didn't go white, they went very very dark grey and I was coughing from it.

[alect47]

Powtron were you on grizlycorn Kartels today? I talked with someone at the top of #2 on a pair.

That was me, nice to meet you! Powtron was there with some purple kartels

[ColMan]

And vail is the big loser so far this season ? Wtf?

Keystone has picked up 3.5 feet more snow than Vail so far. Not sure I've ever seen that before. Someone must have really pissed off Ullr.

[fastfred]

Wanted to go today but couldn't swing it. Let's hope Wednesday isn't a Saturday.

Wednesday is the new Saturday good luck

[iamTRuTH]

That was me, nice to meet you! Powtron was there with some purple kartels

Nice to meet you also. Let's actually make some turns together next time [emoji12]

[galibier_numero_un]

How much was open at a Basin today?

Pali, North Glades, etc. was a blast. You didn't want to be at the top of Lenawee today (whiteout) - ask me how I know. I didn't bother checking Zuma - not surprised it was closed.

They closed down around 1:30 to do mitigation. They wanted cars out of the lot ... just in case ;-)

... Thom

[The SnowShow]

Keystone has picked up 3.5 feet more snow than Vail so far. Not sure I've ever seen that before. Someone must have really pissed off Ullr.

Maybe the $25 parking [emoji867]

[The SnowShow]

At one point today, there was a gust of wind and all the snow fell off the trees I was skiing under... so much snow got in the air that things didn't go white, they went very very dark grey and I was coughing from it.

Ha, that happened to me as well. There were some monster gusts around 1. Can't imagine what it was like above treeline.

[The SnowShow]

I think that move would be fair.... but what they are getting at the stake is what I've been getting at my house... where I am running out of places to put the snow.

I cannot ever remember it being this good at Keystone this often. Just stinks that all stashes get hit instantly these days since everyone has fat rockered skis. 10-13 years ago, it wasn't that way.

Today at Keystone there were a few moments where I was choking on my faceshots.

I had a sore throat after a couple of runs from some good faceshots and punching a few tree branches out of the way and getting showered [emoji23]

[stfu&gbtw]

Pali, North Glades, etc. was a blast. You didn't want to be at the top of Lenawee today (whiteout) - ask me how I know. I didn't bother checking Zuma - not surprised it was closed.

They closed down around 1:30 to do mitigation. They wanted cars out of the lot ... just in case ;-)

... Thom

It blew my mind when I heard that... Sure, the Prof could slide across 6 and into the parking lot, and untangling a parking lot full of empty cars from an avalanche would be extraordinarily difficult. Certainly, if the opportunity to prevent those cars from being there, or to move them to safety exists, that's what should happen.

That being said, considering the pass is closed, whoever thought it would be "safer" to make every single empty car parked on the edge of a single avalanche path suddenly become an occupied car sitting directly in many different avalanche paths should be demoted to Chairlift Tester at Granby Ranch. With the road jammed, even a moderate slide in another location would have almost certainly resulted in serious injury, and given the lack of access for ERs, possibly worse.

[galibier_numero_un]

That's an excellent point. It dawns on me ... wouldn't blasting​ the Professor fall under the jurisdiction of our favorite state department - CDOT?

... Thom

[The SnowShow]

[emoji15]

[Soups]

Would like to see this year overlaid with 2011

[summit]

It blew my mind when I heard that... Sure, the Prof could slide across 6 and into the parking lot, and untangling a parking lot full of empty cars from an avalanche would be extraordinarily difficult. Certainly, if the opportunity to prevent those cars from being there, or to move them to safety exists, that's what should happen.

That being said, considering the pass is closed, whoever thought it would be "safer" to make every single empty car parked on the edge of a single avalanche path suddenly become an occupied car sitting directly in many different avalanche paths should be demoted to Chairlift Tester at Granby Ranch. With the road jammed, even a moderate slide in another location would have almost certainly resulted in serious injury, and given the lack of access for ERs, possibly worse.

Prof has slid covering an entire lot full of empty cars and Molly Hogan. Miraculously nobody was hurt. About 20 years ago. And slides are running full track right now.

That said the only major path between abasin and keystone besides prof are the widow makers. The paths farther down are smaller and the start zones are truly south aspect in character and not so high. People were going to have to drive under at some point and sooner is better. That said they weren't counting on hwy 6 closing at Corinthian at the same moment the evac stated which caused the backup.

Lastly, there were ERs available and injury to people in vehicles in road slides is uncommon and certainly far less severe than when outside their vehicle.

[zartagen]

Would like to see this year overlaid with 2011

Just from eyeballing, we're about 2 weeks behind 2011.

[Soups]

^^Giggity

[wannabe]

The professor hit the Molly hogan chair in the late 80's, that and the big Peak 7 slide that killed a couple people and buried a dozen or so were major topics in my first avy class in 90. Those were still pretty fresh for the patrollers and summit county SAR folks.

I don't remember the details on the snow conditions that built up for the professor to go that big, other than they didn't expect it to go that big and they heli dropped the bomb after the basin was closed.

[Name Redacted]

The only way they bomb the prof is from a heli. They were able to trigger other large slides on the I70 corridor. The conditions were changing rapidly due to wind picking up, and another round of snowfall. This is why they closed. I sat on my tailgate and drank a beer while people filed out in an orderly fashion.

I just hope they can open tomorrow?

[stfu&gbtw]

I can only think of two instances when the prof slid into the parking lot... There may be a few more, but it's hardly a regular thing. Did the 2003 storm produce a slide that crossed the highway? If not, it might be 25+ years since the last one... The likelihood that a slide even reaches the parking lot is low. If you just evac the people from the lots, leaving their cars where they are, the risk of personal injury is essentially zero. Getting everyone into their cars and driving 50'-300' closer to and across the slide path, creating gridlock with cars parked in every potential slide path between Abasin and Keystone does not mitigate risk... It creates it, and distributes it over a much larger area. Even as the risk of a major slide was obviously very high today, as demonstrated by the I70 mess, and the prof can go big, I can't see any way that having empty cars in the lot ever approaches the level of risk associated with having all those people stuck in their cars all up and down the highway.

[galibier_numero_un]

I just caught Al's comments on the closure:

http://arapahoebasin.blogspot.com/20...-1-pm.html?m=1

... Thom

[stfu&gbtw]

I just caught Al's comments on the closure:

http://arapahoebasin.blogspot.com/20...-1-pm.html?m=1

... Thom

I didn't expect Al to criticize CDOT, and he didn't. I also notice he didn't throw anyone under the bus.... But Al's a pretty sharp dude, and I'd imagine this was a tough day. Unless High Noon is setting off 4' fractures that are burying the 6th Alley Deck and Pali chairs are bouncing off the towers, it seems unlikely that the AB folks would be trying to force people out onto a closed and closing roadway, only to have them inch along through several miles of intermittent slide path between the ski area and relative safety. All that being said, it worked... So, sure, why not? Sounds like shit got a little real in SuCo for a while today, and the net of the decision making process was that no one got hurt. To that, everyone working up there today deserves a real pat on the back.

[summit]

STFU go back and read my post. People had to pass sooner or later under the paths between Keystone and Abasin. They were not going to be able to shoot them all in those conditions. Evacuating sooner reduces the overall exposure. The exposure was from NATURAL slides. But yea there was a perfect storm of a simultaneous 20 car pileup on US6 which contributed to the traffic jam.

Your solution was to intentionally expose hundreds of cars to the results of INTENTIONAL APPLICATION OF EXPLOSIVES to the start zone of the threatening path?
Do you not understand:
The risk difference between natural versus explosive triggering?
They would have to check all cars for people one by one, guard the lot, shut down all lifts, sweep the mountain, and evac the base area by interlodging people in the a-frame? You cant risk a straggler wandering into the runout!
When Prof slid big it covered not only the ENTIRE parking lot, but also and covered the base piste, lift stations and up a few towers on Molly Hogan? I have seen the video footage.

It is SOP to have the road closed and the ski area empty before they shoot Prof. But somehow you know why it is actually better to blow that shit off during present conditions...

STFU tell me is there anything in your life about which you are not the most knowledgeable person in the world? What the fuck is it that makes you so much more knowledgeable than the CAIC highway forecasters and other avalanche professionals?