Journal: Avalanche Hell Weekend
Winter Scene in RMNP by Wayne Boland
There was an impressive amount of reported avalanche activity last weekend here in Colorado, including several injuries and one death. I was out in the mountains but gladly avoided this hazard which I’ll talk about below. Instead, I spent the entire day Saturday in Rocky Mountain National Park snowshoeing near where someone went missing. We were in luck on Saturday as the weather was windy but otherwise crystal clear.
The prevailing wind in the Park is from the west or northwest. Check out the striations in the snow of the photo on the right showing the wind direction. This is an open meadow where the wind scours the ground leaving only a thin, hard-packed layer of snow for most of the season I would guess. This was relatively easy to walk on. However, most of the area is covered in a thick pine forest that catches and holds the wind-blown snow and in many places is 5 to 10 feet thick. Snow is usually not very consolidated this time of year, so walking in the forest even with “floatation,” meaning snowshoes or skis, is still quite difficult. You still sink into the deep snow about a foot or so and basically dig a trench as you break trail. If you have a group of people, the wise thing to do is trade off trail breaking duty often so no single person becomes exhausted.
My original plan for last weekend was to do the Commando Run, a backcountry ski tour that runs from Vail Pass to Vail. This tour is great fun with beautiful views of the Gore and Sawatch mountains. We’ve done this trip many times, usually on Superbowl weekend to avoid the horrific traffic on I-70. If you’re interested, you can read more details about the Commando in The Insolent Guide. We cancelled this trip several weeks ago due to poor snow conditions and it turns out this was a good decision.
A recent storm on top of a relatively thin layer of existing snow has produced avalanche hell in Colorado. On Saturday a backcountry skier was killed near Silverton. A woman who was snowboarding in the backcountry triggered a massive avalanche near Berthoud Pass. SAR teams searched for possible victims but apparently no one was injured. For those unfamiliar with the Berthoud Pass area, it is a highly popular backcountry ski area where skiers can be dropped off near the top of the pass and ski down to the road below to be picked up later. The slopes are very steep and get wind loaded with snow, generating dangerous avalanche conditions quite often.
Another skier was hurt in a big avalanche near Cameron Pass west of Fort Collins. And apparently a lot of avalanche activity was reported near Steamboat Springs, including one near Buffalo Pass triggered by a skier. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has issued an avalanche warning.
That was an exceptionally dangerous weekend for avi activity. Unfortunately, as the popularity of backcountry travel increases in Colorado, I would guess that the rate of avi accidents will increase even though they are largely avoidable with education and by paying attention to reports such as what the CAIC publishes. I hope I am wrong.
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