Colorado Backcountry Conditions 2009-2010

**^^^** · 11-16-2009, 10:01 PM

11.15.09
Grand County
Dave and pow4brains
15"+ new, solid base

The upslopes have been hammering Colorado so far in this early season and so we headed a bit up north along the divide and had a great day of slednecking and skiing. Up high the base was around 3' deep, solid, no instabilities, which made for some fun riding and good early season pow harvesting.

At the TH there was maybe 8" of new, bluebird sky, and warming temps. Once we crested 10K conditions changed dramatically, with a good 15" or so of new light fluff on top of a solid base layer that had settled down to around 3' after the Halloween dump.

Skied mostly north facing trees with quick sled laps. Boondocked a bit in the open meadows and never hit ground or any debris. Snowed off and on all day keeping things fresh and cold.

On with the pics.....

1st lap:

pow4brains:

Lap #2:

Lap #3:

One more lap:

Good early season day. Hoping things stay cold from here on out. Most high elevation trees and sheltered north aspects are looking real good. One or two more storms and we should be looking good in terms of opening more options up.

**marshalolson** · 11-16-2009, 10:10 PM

looks terrible

**Crampedon** · 11-16-2009, 10:49 PM

Looks unreal

**Pow4Brains** · 11-17-2009, 09:55 AM

Super fun early season day! Happy to see I some how managed to get a couple of good shots. We just need the sun to stay away......

**montanaskier** · 11-17-2009, 10:14 AM

Dave, what kind of slope angles were you skiing? Any sign of natural activity higher up and on steeper lines?

**Pow4Brains** · 11-17-2009, 11:06 AM

^^^^No. I would guess the steepest was about ~ 25 degrees. There are not any steep peaks in the area that you could see from our vantage point with the same aspect and is the reason we were skiing it. The stuff at 25 degress seemed to be bonded well.

**PowTron** · 11-17-2009, 11:26 AM

Good info, although I am sorry you had to suffer through that misery

**^^^** · 11-17-2009, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by montanaskier

Dave, what kind of slope angles were you skiing? Any sign of natural activity higher up and on steeper lines?

We didn't ski or ride anything steeper than 25 degrees or so. The terrain up in that particular zone is pretty mellow and non-indicative of what's going on in most high alpine zones around the northern half of the state. The bond between the Halloween layer and the new snow was pretty decent. Snow came in with a higher moisture content and no wind. The Halloween layer wasn't necessarily crusty, but setup and dense. That is primarily our observations on the north aspect we rode and skied. Overall depth was in the 3.5'-4.5' range. Not bad for this time of year at all. I'm sure things are much different on other aspects and steeper grades. I was mostly just stoked to get out and ski pow on a consistent base.

Won't be long until VP is in shape. Sled buddy sent pics from Sunday and it's finally starting to look like winter over there. 1-2 more decent storms and the pass should be skiing and riding rather well.

Heard the Monarch zone picked up a decent amount of new snow too. Skiing down that way is "worth the trip" from what I've gathered. Again, northerly aspects above 10K is money, while most other aspects are still a bit thin.

My hope is that this new snow will settle a bit over the week to help continue build the base. Don't need light blower just yet. Another wet storm would be ideal.

**montanaskier** · 11-17-2009, 02:15 PM

thanks for the info....those shots look great. VP is shaping up, this last round really helped. I heard reports from the Red Cliff side that it was pretty deep up high. A storm for later this weekend looks promising right now....if it doesn't shear apart before it gets here.

**^^^** · 11-23-2009, 08:16 PM

11.22.09
Locale: Jones Pass
Skiers: Dave and randoms
Weather: Sucky. No snow in over 7 days.
Snow Conditions: $$$ Best snow I've skied up there in many years. 7" or so of super fine, light, dry crystal-snow-meth on top of a stout layer that wasn't going anywhere. Wind was blowing out of the W-NW, dropping snow into the bowl, making for some excellent skiing. Ever the exposed slopes were skiing decent with a nice chalky fluff on top.

On with the pics....

Back up for more:

**Rontele** · 11-23-2009, 08:58 PM

we're fukked

**Pow4Brains** · 11-23-2009, 09:14 PM

Where the fugg are teh close ups of said hot tele chix?

**FiveLarge** · 11-24-2009, 03:02 AM

FKNA, thanks for the stoke.

And especially for the conditions/snowpack details.

Is that a sled toward the top of the pic?

**shera** · 11-24-2009, 05:42 AM

Hidden pictures! Like secret treasure.

**Pow4Brains** · 11-24-2009, 09:24 AM

Yes, and us cube jockeys are expecting more stoke. Have fun today.

We gotta get out before you get too busy for touron season.

**shera** · 11-24-2009, 04:50 PM

Today was kickass!!! I am actually liking the snowpack above treeline. No cracks, not a hard slab, just well settled. Just a little 1" very soft slab from the wind in places and lots of heavy soft powder turns. Loved it.

**marshalolson** · 11-24-2009, 05:20 PM

powder is good. i like it.

**^^^** · 11-30-2009, 08:49 PM

11.24.09
Jones Pass
Dave, marshalolson, SheRa
5" new, bluebird, increasing winds
Weather story: Sucks. 5" of new over the past 12 days or so. Mostly warm temps, light winds, and no new snow. Did I mention no new snow? Yeah, Colorado is in desperate need of new fluff. Up high, snow conditions have been holding on with cold temps at night, warm sunny days, making for some good recycled pow. Snow has been getting more stable as the days go on, but once winter decides to return we'll be looking at a scary pack up high and in exposed terrain. For now, we've been enjoying the sunshine and good high elevation snow conditions. Down low, everything sucks balls. Melting, little to no base, and again no new snow. On with the pics...

SheRa climbing to the top of the pass:

And then hucking her shit:

Marshal likes the high alpine pow at the end of November:

Dave:

We made 4 laps before calling it a morning. Great day, beautiful weather.

SheRa:

Caleb and his buddy slaying it over in the next bowl:

Looking back up:

And at the scenery:

Marshal knows how to slut it up and look at the camera...all the time:

More slayage:

Looking back at our playground for the day:

Fun morning. In and out within a few hours. Winds were picking up and blowing the snow around making some shallow hard slabs on top of the pack. Probably crap now, as the winds have been doing their work since last week.