TR: Torreys Peak/Dead dog cooler

[shera]

Hey girl we talked about doing that shoot or another aspect just Saterday. What day did you bust the move?
You can see the lost rat coulier, the small cornice in the pics. That was what I climbed up in the middle of the night solo. The last 50' to 75' is vertical, I have some pictures I took hanging out on that cornice you'll have to see them.
Did you guys climb the shoot or take the arete?

We skied it this Thursday, May 19. We booted up the saddle between the two peaks - that was the toughest part of the climb. Kicked into a glissade track.

Ooooh, the lost rat is on Torrey's? I wish somebody would make me one of those red arrows for that one. Between the Grays/Torreys saddle and the peak of Torrey's there was an entire corniced face with a lot of cool looking lines in it. I was too chicken to think about skiing in there though, at least this time. Not only cornices, but a lot of rocky heat sinks too. And not a lot of vert in exchange for the big hike (4.5 miles). I wouldn't feel like I got my money's worth unless I hiked that part twice, I guess...

Anyway, sorry we didn't hit it together. But there's a long summer ahead. So many lines. You're gonna teach me ropes too, right? And I am so psyched to go camping this year.

I'll see you guys tonight on Loveland Pass. Don't forget your gear this time.

[Phatstix]

Again, I'm no expert either, but I still like the idea of bringing a digital thermometer. In this case, checking the snow temps (every 10 cm or so) all the way up and before you go down might give you an idea if the snow is actually cooling (4:00 pm) or if the air temps are just starting to cool. It seems like it could really give you a better idea of what's happening throughout the day.
Excerpt from the Avalanche Handbook :
"There are scattered but persistent reports of thin wet slab avalanches releasing after slopes become covered by shadows as the sun sets in the evening. One explanation is that surface cooling causes the release of a slab that is already in tension due to water lubrication of an interface below the surface. Snow with low water content (as would be expected near the surface) is known to contract as it feezes. This effect can increase the tensile stresses rapidly to cause crown fracture and avalanche release.
The "taffy" analogy comes into play nicely here...
Looks like a great line! Nicely done.
Over-

[skideeppow]

somewhere around there, the sun was behind us....starting to set back up in the shade

I also will not be judgemental, but you broke a major tenant of skiing in the backcountry, particulally in the spring. Never ever be on a slope that late. Check out the A Basin thread and look at the times. This slope ripped lose at 1030 in the morning, a slope that had huge compaction. IN aspen this spring, we had a man from the springs die in a slide in March off the back of highlands. He was in a level 2 avi class and was skiing a east, ne facing slope at 2 in the afternoon. Lots of people thought this was a major error in judegment.
I skied a east facing slope on wed, was off the hill by 830. I came back around laster that day (4pm )and the slope had ripped lose right were we skied. Upon further inspection it was a hard slab release that was a result of running water under the snow.
Not to be overly harsch, if you want to take huge chances like that, be my guest, but you are putting other people at risk, like rescue workers who would need to search for you guys.
I kept on asking you about the time of day you skied because I am trying to figure out the latest you can descend off of a est facing 14er.
Take this as a learing experience, but I would say you dodged a major bullet.

[Phatstix]

Not to beat a dead horse,- I think we all understand it's pretty warm out there....
email from Bob Perlmutter on Friday -
... Lou and I skied Torreys today having slept
there
last night. Very warm night and too scary to ski anything with any East
to
the aspect. Skied off to the North at 9am. with the snow still frozen.
We
were afraid to let the sun warm the thin eggshell crust. That said, due
to
the extreme heat and my exhaustion from non-stop skiing, I am going to
take
a week off of skis until the Pass opens...
Over-

[JoeStrummer]

Great descent! That one has been on my list for awhile. Way more people talk about it than actually bother to go and ski it.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Not to beat a dead horse,- I think we all understand it's pretty warm out there....
email from Bob Perlmutter on Friday -
... Lou and I skied Torreys today having slept
there
last night. Very warm night and too scary to ski anything with any East
to
the aspect. Skied off to the North at 9am. with the snow still frozen.
We
were afraid to let the sun warm the thin eggshell crust. That said, due
to
the extreme heat and my exhaustion from non-stop skiing, I am going to
take
a week off of skis until the Pass opens...
Over-

Lou and Bob who? Like those guys know what they are talking about.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Great descent! That one has been on my list for awhile. Way more people talk about it than actually bother to go and ski it.

I've done both!!!

[skideeppow]

Lou and Bob who? Like those guys know what they are talking about.

Lou Dawsen and Bob Pearlmutter, the former has pioneered all 14ners in colo, and the latter was with him on about 5O% of those descents.

[iskibc]

Went out today and found just about every type of scenario you could imagine. The pack is super weak in a lot of places and fairly strong in others. You have to know your areas to be safe at this point in time. We came across the treeline-below treeline mush that more than likely caused the a-basin slide yesterday. It's nasty. We had 4-5' collapses on 10 degree slopes causing a quick panic on our way out this afternoon. Anything at or below treeline that is one something steep will slide, period. Don't mess with it. Above treeline is a different story. West and NW facing slopes are actually in decent condition. A fairly nice freeze occured last night which stabilized a lot of the west-northwest-north facing terrain. However, things are still touchy. Today was all about getting on the slope early and descending early. All other aspects were like a warzone. I've never seen so many avys in one given area. Tenmile range, gore range, elk range, front range, mosquito range, sawatch ranges were all hit hard with debris on east>south faces. Ugly. There are still some pockets of strong bonding out there. I would suggest being extra careful in the next several days and always think wet slide.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Went out today and found just about every type of scenario you could imagine. The pack is super weak in a lot of places and fairly strong in others. You have to know your areas to be safe at this point in time. We came across the treeline-below treeline mush that more than likely caused the a-basin slide yesterday. It's nasty. We had 4-5' collapses on 10 degree slopes causing a quick panic on our way out this afternoon. Anything at or below treeline that is one something steep will slide, period. Don't mess with it. Above treeline is a different story. West and NW facing slopes are actually in decent condition. A fairly nice freeze occured last night which stabilized a lot of the west-northwest-north facing terrain. However, things are still touchy. Today was all about getting on the slope early and descending early. All other aspects were like a warzone. I've never seen so many avys in one given area. Tenmile range, gore range, elk range, front range, mosquito range, sawatch ranges were all hit hard with debris on east>south faces. Ugly. There are still some pockets of strong bonding out there. I would suggest being extra careful in the next several days and always think wet slide.

Thanks for the update, makes me glad I stayed home. Update on the highline canal traile. It was nice, consistent conditions of dirt path mixed with some asphalt. Too warm though, hopefully things will settle by memorial day, looks like a cooling period towards the end of the week. Let's hope so, I only get to get out once a year now with the baby.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Lou Dawsen and Bob Pearlmutter, the former has pioneered all 14ners in colo, and the latter was with him on about 5O% of those descents.

Big deal, have they skied Corbet's?

[shera]

Again, I'm no expert either, but I still like the idea of bringing a digital thermometer. In this case, checking the snow temps (every 10 cm or so) all the way up and before you go down might give you an idea if the snow is actually cooling (4:00 pm) or if the air temps are just starting to cool. It seems like it could really give you a better idea of what's happening throughout the day.
Excerpt from the Avalanche Handbook :
"There are scattered but persistent reports of thin wet slab avalanches releasing after slopes become covered by shadows as the sun sets in the evening. One explanation is that surface cooling causes the release of a slab that is already in tension due to water lubrication of an interface below the surface. Snow with low water content (as would be expected near the surface) is known to contract as it feezes. This effect can increase the tensile stresses rapidly to cause crown fracture and avalanche release.
The "taffy" analogy comes into play nicely here...
Looks like a great line! Nicely done.
Over-

Thanks! Interesting post.

I wonder what the snow would feel like under those conditions? Breakthrough crust? We skied a little bit down Hoosier Pass almost at sunset yesterday and the top surface was crusty. Not at all like what we had on Torreys - the base was so bomber, where on Hoosier it was just sugary junk. Both places cooling off, but completely different characteristics.

[H20MAN]

We skied it this Thursday, May 19. We booted up the saddle between the two peaks - that was the toughest part of the climb. Kicked into a glissade track.

Ooooh, the lost rat is on Torrey's? I wish somebody would make me one of those red arrows for that one. Between the Grays/Torreys saddle and the peak of Torrey's there was an entire corniced face with a lot of cool looking lines in it. I was too chicken to think about skiing in there though, at least this time. Not only cornices, but a lot of rocky heat sinks too. And not a lot of vert in exchange for the big hike (4.5 miles). I wouldn't feel like I got my money's worth unless I hiked that part twice, I guess...

Anyway, sorry we didn't hit it together. But there's a long summer ahead. So many lines. You're gonna teach me ropes too, right? And I am so psyched to go camping this year.

I'll see you guys tonight on Loveland Pass. Don't forget your gear this time.

The lost rat holds snow longer than that dog but your right more bang for the hoof'n, it's not that long a hike but it can kick your ass. Got's to do a midnight 14'ner hike

[shera]

The lost rat holds snow longer than that dog but your right more bang for the hoof'n, it's not that long a hike but it can kick your ass. Got's to do a midnight 14'ner hike

Last year I hiked once at night and really loved it. Amazing how the eyes can adjust...

[lemon boy]

some more 14er beta....a "stay the hell away from my projects and hit the obvious stuff" bump