BIG SNOW
Avy Warning in Northern Colorado
By Bob Berwyn, 2-08-08
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| With an avalanche warning in effect for the Northern Colorado mountains, powder seekers are better off staying inbounds the next few days, like this Summit County local exploring a stash at Arapahoe Basin. Photo by Bob Berwyn. | |
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When my girlfriend and I visited Francie’s Cabin in the Summit County, Colorado backcountry last weekend, we took a short morning tour around the hut and stopped on an open powder field to dig a hasty snowpit.
I wasn’t expecting much from the relatively low-angle slope. I really just wanted to show Leigh the process of digging a pit and evaluating layers in the snowpack.
After we looked at the wall of the pit and used our fingers to probe the hardness of various layers, we isolated a column of snow. I then had her use my shovel to test the column for stability. Somewhere in the upper third of the snowpack, about 18 inches down, there must have been a buried weak layer, perhaps some surface hoar, because a block of snow sheared away easily and tumbled at our feet.
I wasn’t completely surprised by the result, given the steady stream or cautionary language coming from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) in recent weeks. Colorado is in the midst of an unusual storm cycle, with almost daily snowfall and periods of high winds that have loaded starting zones and built a tender sandwich of soft and hard slabs, all sitting atop a base of sugar snow.
The CAIC issued an avalanche warning for the Summit County and Vail zones, and for the Front Range mountains (from Winter Park north), as well as for the Steamboat and Flat Tops zones on Friday, Feb. 8. The warning remains in effect through 6 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 9.
Both natural and triggered releases are probable on steeper slopes, and slides in the new snow layer (up to 12 inches) can easily step down into older slabs, resulting in big and dangerous slides. The CAIC is recommending against travel on slopes 30 degrees or steeper. The slide danger in those areas is posted as high.
“This is an exceptional winter for snow, a one in 20 or 30 year season,” said former CAIC forecaster Dale Atkins. The last comparable winter may have been back in the early 1980s, he said. “We had almost daily snows from Thanksgiving to New Year,” Atkins said. “Exceptional snow can lead to unusual conditions and unusual avalanches,” he added.
Mid-February has long been marked by a seasonal spike in avalanche accidents, and this year conditions are especially hazardous, Atkins said.
Local skiers and riders who have lived in the area for 10 or even 15 years just haven’t seen conditions like this season’s, and may be lulled into a false sense of security by their experience, Atkins said.
“This is a winter full of exceptions, and they haven’t seen those exceptions,” he added. “This is the kind of winter when even experienced people can get in trouble. Those habits they’ve developed in the past 10 years aren’t good enough.”
Atkins said he’s traditionally referred to period around mid-February as “Valentines Day massacre,” because of the spike in deadly slides, pointing to the potential for big slides and big accidents.
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Comments
Ski movies are showing skiers/boarders skiing terrain that 20 years ago, only a person with a death wish would descend. So, we have a new generation of snow junkies out there trying to "one up" what's done before.
Think a beacon, shovel and probe pole will save 'ya when a mountainside several thousand feet high and loaded with several feet of snow lets loose?
Can't happen to you?
Then, go for it. But have your medical and life insurance paid up and don't expect someone else to pick up the cost of "going for it". And, similarly, any film company that is egging new skiers to ski avalanche terrain, should be legally required to fork over the entire cost when something goes wrong, whether that's injury or death.