Hello Colorado Backcountry enthusiasts. Love all you Colorado skiers and your energetic love of skiing but just a word to the wise. I am not a forecaster or a pro by any means, and unfortunately our beloved underfunded CAIC is not able to forecast yet. I am not attempting to forecast here but its avy season. Todays new snow, colder temperatures and wind up high will bring some concerns in the early season snowpack. Dont be fooled, the winds and gusts are strong enough to move snow and will be for the days to follow with more precipitation and wind coming. It may not seem like a lot of wind, but the duration of it is to be considered. Remember its October in the high country of Colorado on top of early season localized rot. Its great to get out and get some powder turns, its there and great skiing is to be had. Just put on the early season Avi Eyeballs and dont get to tempted for the glory shots. Plenty of season left and if you want it there is great skiing to be had now. Ask yourself basic avi awareness questions. Terrain, and weather are biggies right now. A ride right now will be a violent cheese grater in the alpine and your airbag is not gonna do much for you. Its an early season shallow pack with rapid loading taking place. Slope angles are really important right now in this storm cycle as are aspects. Some things have never changed and patterns of past history in Colorado can give you a good idea of what is happening. Look at cornices and look for leeward action. It may be October but its happening. Your eyes can give you so much information without getting tech weenie, so use your eyes, nose, ears, basic awareness and solid travel techniques. If you have to ask what that is, reconsider your objectives until you can answer those questions. Use your group as a tool of discussion. Every voice is valid and everyone has one. All or none in your group dynamic. Dont default to someone who has more training and or familiarity with terrain. You all have a voice. You may have all the gear, but when is the last time you practiced with it. Good time to freshen up and have a beacon party. Something I have done in the past is thrown keg parties and hid the cups in a deep yard or forest. You only get a cup when you complete a beacon search to your cup. A cup search is not a substitute for actual field practice in companion rescue, take some time with your partners and have some fun. Dont be intimidated, your all there to help each other and learn from each other. I am not going to attempt to tell you were to ski, but just use common early season sense in Colorado. Get some powder but keep it conservative and think like an educated conservative player. There is good skiing to be had and much better then you will find at A-basin on the ribbon although I happen to love the ribbon and appreciate it for what it is. Get out and ski some powder, enjoy it but with caution. I wish I had some skis and equipment right now, Or I wish I could afford the 67$ a day to slide down the White ribbon of joy at A-Basin and get my White Ribbon Wiggle on with the Colorado ski fever that is all around me. I would love to get out and play with all of you that are getting after it. I have a raging ski boner right now, and I am getting blue without my fix ;-) I love the enthusiasm. Play safe fellow Colorado ski enthusiast, Im jealous and Im jonesing to play more then any of you could ever know. I write this with sincerity as I had a chance to read the Backcountry magazine write up today on what went wrong at sheep creek. The article gave me a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat. It was wrenching and sobering to read. Many lessons to take home hear and its not too early to turn on the brain. I highly recommend the read and thank Backcountry for putting out a magazine with educational content from professional perspectives for a change. Condolences once again to the fallen and their families. PS, On another note the Andreas article was pretty cool too. Stoked on this Mag right now and I hope they keep my stoke and interest alive to continue to read about skiing from a different perspective.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 05:20:03 +0000
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