Colorado Weather Discussion Thread

[Jax]

Steamboat has been tits. Seriously my legs are screaming for a day off. Not gonna happen!!!

[BFD]

Monarch was flat, like it always is.

High lift was open around 10, NFL was open around 10:45. Today kicked major amounts of ass.

I guess i should of stuck around. according to the website nothing past the gates on north face and no teocalli Bowl is that correct? May try it again some time but I guess I better wait three days after the storm. However it was a great drive up and back also got to visit with friends I haven't seen in 27 years. They actually know many members of this board professionally.
made a few turns here. Glad it was groomed wicked rain crust off piste.

[MakersTeleMark]

Steamboat has been tits. Seriously my legs are screaming for a day off. Not gonna happen!!!

Whoa, blast from the past!

[stfu&gbtw]

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.

So I figured this must be one you're on about. I'm sure it came as a real surprise to (exactly zero people besides) you that 6 closed for accidents... In the middle of a snowstorm no less! Shit man... If only someone had called literally any phone number beginning with a 970, 303, or 720 area code and asked: "Hey, we've got insane avalanche danger up on LLP right now and it's puking snow... We're going to declare an emergency shut down at abasin and send everyone down into Keystone real quick before the Prof slides and buries 2nd tower on BMX... That sound okay to you?"

So dumb.

Next time you're volunteering, ask someone who knows what the fuck they're doing whether they'd rather respond to avy debris in a parking lot full of empty cars at the end of a closed and passable road, or to a multi vehicle accident/avalanche with multiple injuries and burials sitting halfway up the pass behind a wall of parked cars.

Your insistence on calling this good judgement is the only shitty result to come out of what was generally a pretty lucky day. There are far less dangerous days than yesterday when the first car doesn't even make it past the bottom of Pali before it goes in the ditch, with several following close behind... Start that evac off with a 30 car pileup above the beavers and now you've got no way out, no way in, and every goddamned skier at the ski area standing in the Prof slide path.

[goldenboy]

I guess i should of stuck around. according to the website nothing past the gates on north face and no teocalli Bowl is that correct? May try it again some time but I guess I better wait three days after the storm. However it was a great drive up and back also got to visit with friends I haven't seen in 27 years. They actually know many members of this board professionally.
made a few turns here. Glad it was groomed wicked rain crust off piste.

Nice, a little Lake City action.

Yeah, the last two days were tough. they were on top of it today, though. Come back when phoenix and spellbound are open- that's the really good stuff anyway.

[Jax]

Whoa, blast from the past!

Heeeyyy-Ohhh!!!!!

[Name Redacted]

"Maid of Orleans" cabin on Peru Creek rd got taken out by a slide some time today apparently. That cabin sat at the bottom of a slide path for over 100 years till today.

[The SnowShow]

"Maid of Orleans" cabin on Peru Creek rd got taken out by a slide some time today apparently. That cabin sat at the bottom of a slide path for over 100 years till today.

Holy shit - is that the cabin you pass after crossing the creek?

[adrenalated]

Man, this cycle has my hackles up in a big way. I'd be real interested in what layer the Peru slide went on. So far we've been getting a ton of stuff running bigger and farther than I've seen in a long time... just in the storm snow. I'm not sure when/if the PWLs deeper in the pack will wake up... but the prospect of them doing so is rather terrifying.

[zartagen]

I went skiing today. It was hard to find bottom. There was a crazy squall around 4-5 o'clock that must've been 3 inches/hour. By the time I cleared of one side of my car, the other had a fresh 1/4". Traffic in Vail got fucked up.

[Name Redacted]

This is one of those cycles where some of the massive slide path scars you see get created. Should be a fun to watch.

[ColMan]

Absolutely nuking on Hoosier when I came through around 8:45pm. Tomorrow is going to be good.

[simple]

This is one of those cycles where some of the massive slide path scars you see get created. Should be a fun to watch.

Agree. I would love some of my old runs back that the trees filled in with little sprags. Lol

[sillyrabbit]

Can't believe Gunny went all Black that's only happened a few times ever, truly epic and with more on the way, man its gonna be crazy.

[summit]

Oh man.... it wasn't supposed to snow that much.... so tired... guess I'll have to go out again this morning...

STFU: You looked at only one of the several posts made by others and me that explained things, and you have rejected by using an imaginary scenario/reasoning that you created to back your points... but doesn't match reality. If you really want to have this conversation we can start another thread. But you have to be willing to abandoned the false assumptions you have presupposed. But first one question... were you at Abasin on Monday?

[mrburns]

I went skiing today. It was hard to find bottom. There was a crazy squall around 4-5 o'clock that must've been 3 inches/hour. By the time I cleared of one side of my car, the other had a fresh 1/4". Traffic in Vail got fucked up.

I left Vail at 4:55 and it took me 35 minutes to get through Dowd jct. Full on white out. Came in like freight train.

It was still daylight when I took this at 10 minutes to 5.

[stfu&gbtw]

Oh man.... it wasn't supposed to snow that much.... so tired... guess I'll have to go out again this morning...

STFU: You looked at only one of the several posts made by others and me that explained things, and you have rejected by using an imaginary scenario/reasoning that you created to back your points... but doesn't match reality. If you really want to have this conversation we can start another thread. But you have to be willing to abandoned the false assumptions you have presupposed. But first one question... were you at Abasin on Monday?

I was not at the basin on Monday. Sitting here now. You should probably stay home... They might have to evacuate again.

You should feel free to actually make an argument any time now... If you think there's a reason it makes sense to respond to high avy danger by "evacuating" a ski area into a parking lot and then onto a closed road immediately below three slide paths, please elaborate. But if you think sweeping a parking lot is hard, you're simply not considering the alternatives. Your surprise that 6 would close is astonishing... You've skied here before, right?

[doebedoe]

These snow alerts I have set for >6" at Loveland are getting fucking old.

[Kinnikinnick]

I was not at the basin on Monday. Sitting here now. You should probably stay home... They might have to evacuate again.

You should feel free to actually make an argument any time now... If you think there's a reason it makes sense to respond to high avy danger by "evacuating" a ski area into a parking lot and then onto a closed road immediately below three slide paths, please elaborate. But if you think sweeping a parking lot is hard, you're simply not considering the alternatives. Your surprise that 6 would close is astonishing... You've skied here before, right?

I think what you're saying is instead of closing down and evacuating, they should have insisted that everyone either stay on the hill or in the lodge. And if the danger is increasing and CDOT and CAIC are expressing concerns about the danger based on large slides running in numerous places, but they can't yet bomb because said bombing is only done with a helicopter and said helicopter can't fly any time soon because its a raging storm then you do what? Ignore the assessment of rising danger?

[stfu&gbtw]

15", 9", 11"...

Should have brought my parabolic skis.

[stfu&gbtw]

I think what you're saying is instead of closing down and evacuating, they should have insisted that everyone either stay on the hill or in the lodge. And if the danger is increasing and CDOT and CAIC are expressing concerns about the danger based on large slides running in numerous places, but they can't yet bomb because said bombing is only done with a helicopter and said helicopter can't fly any time soon because its a raging storm then you do what? Ignore the assessment of rising danger?

Probably not... Sheltering everyone at BML for 36 hours isn't a strategy either.... But right off the top of my head, you could bring CSP into Summit to moderate traffic, stage rescue vehicles along 6 to expedite vehicle recovery, and when the resources are there, start pulling every 5th skier out of line and ask them to head home. Hold vehicles until the path beyond the HT runout is clear and send them through in groups.

I know... That's waaaaay too hard. Couldn't be done in CO. You know, because mountains. Responding to the occasional 75 car pile up/multiple fatality is way easier.

[WTF is dat]

15", 9", 11"...

Should have brought my parabolic skis.

Wow are you just gonna ski grizzly road again for your second day of the season ?!!? Maybe hit the gnar on Sundance ?

[stfu&gbtw]

Wow are you just gonna ski grizzly road again for your second day of the season ?!!? Maybe hit the gnar on Sundance ?

Not until I dig a pit...

[summit]

Sheltering everyone at BML for 36 hours isn't a strategy either....

You have created the idea that when they decided to send everyone down the hill, that it meant the natural slide danger to AB/6 was suddenly discovered to be too high and everyone needed to be gone instantly so that explosive reduction could be carried out immediately. That is the strawman on which all your suppositions are based. If that was true, the solution is NOT your highly resource intensive, complex, staged refugee caravan. The answer would have been to close the road and ski area hours earlier!

But luckily, your assumptions are not correct... because the decision was made in anticipation, not reaction. That is the entire purpose of forecasting.

The closure came because forecasters anticipated the natural slide danger rising, and it is known that there is a delay to clear the area (and limited daylight). So they acted. And that is why things worked out well.

But right off the top of my head, you could bring CSP into Summit to moderate traffic, stage rescue vehicles along 6 to expedite vehicle recovery, and when the resources are there

You realize the big accident was 10 miles away from AB by Lake Dillon, NOT between Keystone and A-Basin... right?
Plenty of resources were applied to that pileup. From the reports I received, there were no wrecks between AB and Keystone.

start pulling every 5th skier out of line and ask them to head home.

There are too many problems with that idea to list and no reason to try it anyway. I've never heard of that being done anywhere.

[Kinnikinnick]

Probably not... Sheltering everyone at BML for 36 hours isn't a strategy either.... But right off the top of my head, you could bring CSP into Summit to moderate traffic, stage rescue vehicles along 6 to expedite vehicle recovery, and when the resources are there, start pulling every 5th skier out of line and ask them to head home. Hold vehicles until the path beyond the HT runout is clear and send them through in groups.

I know... That's waaaaay too hard. Couldn't be done in CO. You know, because mountains. Responding to the occasional 75 car pile up/multiple fatality is way easier.

Interesting ideas. Essentially you're proposing a complex evacuation plan for an event that has happened once in what 30-40 years? Not that its necessarily a bad idea. But to solve what? A theoretical problem that you see that something bad COULD have happened? It doesn't have anything to do with "Colorado" whether such a plan would be in place. Do you know or think that every ski area outside of Colorado with a similar road situation has such a system in place? Snowbird/Alta, Taos, Wolf Creek come to mind.

Maybe there are and if so maybe you should approach A-Basin, Cdot, CAIC and propose it. Or would you rather just sit on your high horse and condemn it as a Colorado Native problem?