CP Conditions

g · Joined: 17 Dec 2007 Posts: 50

Interesting location for the slab avalanche. exactly where i ski cut loose a fairly good little wet slab two weeks ago. interesting how that spot goes in the similar spot. something to remember

my general experience on windy days in spring is that summiting richtofen by traversing at the bench and climbing the north face is generally much calmer than the west ridge. makes for a great ski as well, just make sure to stop before the bottom.

distantfellow · Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 105

Thanks for the beta G.

Anyone else ski powder this weekend?

I had Seven Utes all to myself today and got four good laps in top to bottom. The snow was stellar, boot top pow - incredibly dry and fluffy for May. I didn't notice any natural avy activity and my hasty pits revealed good bonding between the new and old snow.

Going up for another one.

Silver Cr. objectives looking sexy.

That cornice is looking pretty fat.

I'm blown away by this late season snowpack. I guess we'll be skiing for a while yet, eh? Wink

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

Had Monkey Bowl to myself today. A far cry from the usual hordes up there. Ankle deep creamy stuff, good consolidation below it. Now if only the weather will clear, it will be time for bigger lines.

telejet9 · Joined: 10 Nov 2008 Posts: 71 Location: Fort Fun, CO

We skied "Z" today. The new snow heated up really fast above the dust layer. Areas that saw the most direct sun were pretty wet. I had a small amount of slough start moving behind me after a couple of turns. Since the snow was so heavy, it was a really slow mover. New, consolidated snow was around 4" and the debris pile was only around 1' deep. It looks worse than it was. We expected this after digging our pit before the run and seeing the dough balls forming. Damn dust! Arizona can keep it.

Richthofen, a beautiful mountain hiding behind "Z"...

Ready to drop. The dough balls indicate that the snow is ready to move.

Some of the spring creations are interesting to say the least.

Final shot from the road. Gotta love the zoom.

In the final photo, you can see a skin track on the right. We approached from the large avy path (not in the photo) and gained the saddle. Then we traversed up the ridge. This skin track was put in as we descended. As we skied out we noticed the two party team at the top. Sorry if we thwarted your efforts to ski "Z". That was not our intent. Hope you had a safe and enjoyable day.

shantyman · Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Posts: 55

Another May powder day

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

Nice shots, especially that second one. Looks like it sucked.

Any stability obs? Heading up this weekend for a bit of a longer tour away from the usual spots and wondering what this new stuff is doing with the dust/sun/wind layers...

shantyman · Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Posts: 55

daa, only minor sluffing in the new snow. Visibility got spotty with afternoon snow squalls so could not see much after the snow warmed up. We skied some pretty steep stuff without issue. Also some big lines on the Diamond were skied.

jay dee · Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Posts: 42 Location: coloRADo

Thanks for the updates fellas!
_________________
"And one of the things we've got to make sure that we do is anything" - GW Bush, Wash. DC, 5/7/2002
"When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"

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

word. that's good to hear.

looks like even a bit more coming this weekend.

Joe Wright goes from 62" on Monday morning to mid-70's by yesterday/today... Shocked

shantyman · Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Posts: 55

daa, don't be shocked. Check this out. www.xtranormal.com/watch/6365781/

ianeloski · Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 82

Corn is for Cobs, business veture anyone. A three month magazine...

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

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

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

"Didn't you spend $2,000 on an AT setup?"
His response should have been:
"Yea, but I also dropped $4,000 on my mountain bike."

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

So...there's a lot of snow up at the pass. Enough to actually turn us around. Full-value winter up there last night and today.

The stuff falling this morning above 11K was pretty low moisture, but definitely getting thick fast as you go below 10. Skin wax and kick wax are in order.

Seemed like really good bonding, but I did notice a bit of cracking/slab formation on a steeper NE face that was getting pretty loaded. Didn't bother to dig because we didn't end up anywhere that justified it...

Have to imagine Diamond will be pretty good tomorrow...