CP Conditions

seumas · Joined: 07 Nov 2009 Posts: 22

i passed them coming out and she asked if my dog was a cocker spaniel. When I was up above it looked like there might be some gentle lines off to the left which I said to them and found out later that end of the ridge avalanches alot.

Anyway will refrain from attemps at humour that subvert the dominant paradigm

dino · Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 37

Saturday conditions:

Beautiful, calm morning morphed into a cloudy whiteout by about noon.

Coverage was generally thin (esp down in the trees), but certainly adequate in the right spots. Snotel reading of ~18" at JW seemed more or less accurate.

Didn't venture onto any avy terrain, but did not see any obvious signs of instabilities. No naturals, whoomfing, etc. Wind was picking up around noon and starting to snow, so likely stability has worsened since then.

_________________
A wise man once said "There are only two types of snow: good snow and bad attitude."

Proslogger · Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 47

that last photo exudes "mood." nice.

ACheateauX · Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 18 Location: Fort Fun, CO

Hit it today. Found some layer consolidation and about 6-8" of fluff on top. Didn't venture above tree line and kept it mellow. The gullies down low have filled in nicely!

distantfellow · Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 105

I made it up to S. Diamond for my first tour of the season! It was a beautiful sunny day and I got three good laps in. I think I might have missed the good pow by a day or so, finding crusty snow and a few rocks... but there were plenty of good turns to, making for a great start to the season.

I dug several pits and found the snowpack on the E/NE face to be shallow (20 inches average, upwards of 30 in pockets) but very stable. The only natural activity I noticed was on Monty Pass, and that appeared to be small cornice collapse.

Zipper crust down low, but still pretty good.

Small activity on Montgomery Pass

Rush hour traffic up Poudre Canyon

I was climbing in Zion just a couple days ago, then it started snowing...

I guess it's time to ski! Wink

Jmetten · Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Fort Collins

Skiied Ptarmagin on the S Diamond Sunday, excellent powder conditions but an unstable layer about 1.5 ft down made us pretty uneasy so we didn't venture too far out from the tree anchors. Saw several loose snow point releases on other areas of the S. Diamond but all of our skiing couldn't get anything to kick loose. Distant, had the snow consolidated in your pits? Our unstable layer was about 2in thick with clean cleavage above and below, not exactly stable IMHO.

distantfellow · Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 105

I dug three pits on the South Diamond (Ptarmigan area) at different elevations and found pretty consistant results.

Aspect: E/NE
Elevation: 11,000 +
Slope angle for my pits ranged from 22 to 35 degrees.

The snow depth averaged under sixty cm, but I found pockets upwards 75cm.

In all pits I noticed a weeklayer at around 35 - 45 cm depth (measuring from ground up) where the most recent snow is bonding fairly well with the older snow. The new snow sheared off this layer with moderate/hard force and a quality 2 shear. (Shovel Shear Test)

I located the same layer using the Compression Test, but with stiff results = C20. And then the obvious basal crust, which I presume is the layer you're reffering to Jmetten? The basal crust is akin to an ice lens and averaged about 7cm from ground to a thin (probably growing) layer of facets. A super obvious weakness and if anything were to slide at the moment I'd bet it would be off this basal layer, but I found stiff results here to = (Shovel Shear = Hard/Quality 2+) (Compression Test = C30)

I heard no woomphing and saw no cracking while skinning or skiing, noticed no natural activity on S. or North Diamond and saw plenty of tracks from previous (and bolder) parties who had skied some of the faces steeper aspects.

The conditions I experianced were not the same as what you guys got over the weekend. A couple days of wind and sun has taken it's toll. Exposed slopes up high are developing the feared "breakable crust" and things were a little too shallow to be skiing the trees. With the forecasted warm temperatures this coming week I expect the new snow to bond well with the old snow, while the basal layer will be a persistant weakness.

yoder · Joined: 09 Nov 2006 Posts: 10

Thanks for the reports! It's nice to see photos of your missions! I really appreciate the details distantfellow! Keep the beta flowin!
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"The journey IS the destination"

Jmetten · Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Fort Collins

I think we are talking about the same layer. Compression did nothing on our test as well. The layer could literally be lifted up in the air however. I noticed a few point releases, no slab movement and not a lot of noise, cracks, whumps or anything else suspicious while hiking up. We took note of this and stayed close to the trees and an escape route. Great skiing then, it will be interesting to see how the weather has changed the snowpack since.

distantfellow · Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 105

It sure was great beating the holiday crowd to freshies on South Diamond yesterday... but we were considerate and only farmed the flank.

That'll do!

Great skiing with you guys and happy holidays

pilotmurph · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 205 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Whoa, super deep up there today.

Just kidding. We need snow bad!

Napali · Joined: 04 Nov 2007 Posts: 82

"we need snow bad"

not as badly as New Hampshire!

distantfellow · Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 105

Looks like it might storm in the San Juans... I'm going down that way to climb ice next week, might have to bring my sticks along. Confused

daa · Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 67 Location: FTC

ACheateauX · Joined: 26 Nov 2008 Posts: 18 Location: Fort Fun, CO