Colorado Weather Discussion Thread

[stfu&gbtw]

Long, well written, but wrong. Your argument is based on a questionable (wrong) interpretation of one sentence from a blog. Even if you were right, you still can't grasp the appropriate response to the variable risk. The bottom line is risk was rising. So had they waited 3-4 hours to free up the plows, police officers, ambulances, tow trucks, and the tooth fairy your plan called for, it would have been dark and the danger might have risen to the point where where there wasn't another 3-4 hours to send people down the road in tiny groups. Then you end up sheltering 1000+ people for 36 hours+ with probably no resupply. What they did was better.

And that is my last post on the subject.

You're as entitled to disagree with the decision makers as I am. If you're aware of a statement that contradicts the one Al made, go ahead and post a link to it. Otherwise, as Al has 30+ years as a ski patroller in SC, and as he is the COO and the guy who actually makes the call, I accept his ability to speak for himself on this subject.

As for my suggestion about an alternative, that was an idea off the top of my head in response to Kinnik... You can disagree with the specifics, and it would be worthwhile to plan for a response based on actual forethought. Your suggestion that anyone would consistently get better results if they just go for it is far more closely linked with the tooth fairy than my suggestion that they alert EMS and CSP and maybe see if Keystone can send a FEH up the hill to assist.

[hatchgreenchile]

CAIC report on the slide that took out the house by the Maid of Orleans mine.

4' trees getting ripped out! Crazy.

[montanaskier]

This is like an Adam Sandler movie

[Name Redacted]

This is like an Adam Sandler movie

about a train wreck.

[montanaskier]

We are all dumber for having read it, may God have mercy on your souls

[Jong Lafitte]

Zuma delivered this morning after being shut down since Tuesday. Nice to have good vis and no wind up there.

Man, I would guess!! nice.

From Abasin expansion thread:

HHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Cobra bowl is gonna be DEEEEEEEEP today bra!
HIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSS!

[Kinnikinnick]

I'll try to make this as brief as possible.

Wow. Really the answer is that they should have called out the National Guard and Army Corp of Engineers. This was nothing short of a EMERGENCY!!! A-basin put thousands of skiers lives at great risk. Of course the danger of a "catastrophic" event such as a natural avalanche coming down onto some cars stopped on the highway was EXTREME, NOW AT THAT EXACT MOMENT, not just that it was prudent to start people moving out sooner rather than later!!!! But also what about the potential for a terrorist attack. Something COULD HAVE HAPPENED. All those A-basin skiers were sitting ducks. Imagine what a handful of ISIS guys could have done with some rocket launchers to trigger avalanches and some AK-47s to so easily use on those helpless stranded skiers stuck intheir cars. Nay the only thing that makes sense is to have called in the national guard to patrol the situation, push stranded/crashed cars off into the ditch to keep moving and stand guard against attack. And the Army Corp could have installed some bridges across the Swan River, re-routed roads, and demolished any cars and trucks that the tanks and bulldozers couldn't push aside. THIS WAS A FAILURE OF NATIONAL SECURITY, NOT JUST A CASE OF SHIT HAPPENS!!!

In all seriousness, this is a case of Chicken Fucking Little. No Harm, no foul. They tried to make the right decision, but like most circumstances shit happened causing things to gum up but nothing bad happened. Where the fuck would the money and authority come from to respond to a not-yet existing emergency? But if you want to propose some whole complex system to prevent a possibility then contact people who could do something.

Alan Henceroth - COO Abasin alanh@a-basin.net
Shailen P. Bhatt Executive Director CDOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/shailen-bhatt-6a673139

[stfu&gbtw]

Lol... When some dude in a 686 hoody snakes your line in EV, TGR crew be all like:



But when a couple of thousand people are on a mountain pass with natural slides going off all over the place and the one road leading out is closed, TGR crew be all like:

[Kinnikinnick]

Lol... When some dude in a 686 hoody snakes your line in EV, TGR crew be all like:



But when a couple of thousand people are on a mountain pass with natural slides going off all over the place and the one road leading out is closed, TGR crew be all like:

To paraphrase you, the Retrospective Chicken Little :

THE SKY COULD HAVE FALLEN!!!

[stfu&gbtw]

To paraphrase you, the Retrospective Chicken Little :

Well, it seems like when CAIC and CDOT call ABSP to tell them that the snow is sliding, that might be something worth considering. Feel free to draw your own "conclusions".

[simple]

Every winter we are subjected to a few page witness of how genius STFU is. I'm amazed at how one internet troll can have so much knowledge of SUCH SHIT NO ONE CARES ABOUT!!!!!

[adrenalated]

Can we PLEASE stop enabling stfu and get back to montanaskier butthurt?

Looks like it will get warm.

[hatchgreenchile]

Word! Shelf the valley floor temps and CDOT avalanche protocol bullshit.
MOAR ON THE WAY

[rmnpsplitter]

Seriously, the evac plan dick waving is growing old. I would guess neither of you will ever agree with the others perspective. In other news, the snow is still fantastic.... skinned under a full moon this morning.

[stfu&gbtw]

SHIT NO ONE CARES ABOUT!!!!!

The mountains are an environment that will reward planning and forethought like none other... They will also almost invariably punish impatience and ignorance. There's no getting around the fact that there are instances when decisions have to be made on information that is incomplete, or later proves to be incorrect... And everyone will make sometimes make a decision with the best intentions, only to later learn that was the wrong thing to do. Adding to the confusion, people get away with making stupid decisions all the time. But anyone who's intent on spending any significant amount of time in the mountains will benefit for acknowledging the positive effect that information, planning, and forethought can on your life. Around here, we all seem to acknowledge this is true to some degree... There's no shortage of posts condemning people who drive without snow tires, and ski in the backcountry without avy gear. Turns out, those deficiencies in planning and forethought exist all over the place... Spend several years relying on your own lack of knowledge and experience for all your power, water, heat, emergency medical, and road maintenance, and you'll develop a very close personal relationship with planning and forethought. If you take the time to dissect experiences like this one, identify the things you'd do differently next time, and begin planning for that ahead of time, you'll be ready to implement what you've planned for when the next time comes.

[skiracer88_00]

great article about CB's avalanche mitigation

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/12...lanche-danger/

Its interesting that they are seeing a relatively stable snowpack. I guess it makes sense with the depth and density of the new snow. It will be interesting to see how everything sets up in the next few weeks in the backcountry.

[Jax]

Attachment 197067

Jesus. You're not even doing *that* right.

[stfu&gbtw]

Jesus. You're not even doing *that* right.

That is in fact my left hand... You're pretty quick.

[zartagen]

Can we PLEASE stop enabling stfu and get back to montanaskier butthurt?

Looks like it will get warm.

40°at the bottom of 5 at Vail.

[BFD]

great article about CB's avalanche mitigation

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/12...lanche-danger/

Its interesting that they are seeing a relatively stable snowpack. I guess it makes sense with the depth and density of the new snow. It will be interesting to see how everything sets up in the next few weeks in the backcountry.

So why is all the terrain not open? Do they save it for the weekend? What about all the hard chargers?

[adrenalated]

Uhh.... CB has rather exceptionally complex terrain to mitigate, it takes time. Especially the areas that have not been open yet for the season.

[skiracer88_00]

Uhh.... CB has rather exceptionally complex terrain to mitigate, it takes time. Especially the areas that have not been open yet for the season.

What he said.

Nevertheless, they do have some exceptional terrain open at the moment. Props to CB patrol...those guys are the best in the world at what they do. Yesterday was the best day I have ever had at CB. Well worth the drive.

[Name Redacted]

CB goes years without being 100%. The fact that they could be 100% open soon is pretty amazing. It is a little different than The Ridge at LL. [emoji6]

[BFD]

so they do not control the areas outside the control fences and Teocalli Bowl? I am new here and have not been around many ski areas. So in Telluride does Palmyra peak and the other hike to areas get controlled? I have been wanting to go down but have not seen everything open.

[simple]

30 degrees and cloudy on top of Mt Werner