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  • December 26, 2013 at 4:49 pm #670210
    cometogether
    Participant

    I recently spoke with Eli (climbing life guide) who is a long time resident in the park and he mentioned the current base is around 3 ft on average. RMNP has a ton of talus rock and dirty terrain under that snow so I would wait to get out there for at least a couple more storms. He said dead elk and dragons tail are about 3/4 in but the apron below those isn’t that deep, again super rocky in the park! you mentioned riding hidden valley and eli did mention this spot was actually doing better than normal for this time of year so I would say that might be worth a look and should work ok as a sled hill, and go higher up you could probably get some good turns. That area is a hotspot for locals early season so im sure there has been some skier compaction.

    hope that helps

    December 31, 2013 at 3:44 pm #670211
    cometogether
    Participant

    hope every one is enjoying the holidays and getting some good turns in!

    December 31, 2013 at 4:05 pm #670212
    HikeforTurns
    Participant

    Did you guys see this? Tombstone Ridge above Hidden Valley.

    http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2987315022001

    December 31, 2013 at 4:33 pm #670213
    WhitePine
    Participant

    Was that a recent video? It seemed there was barely any snow up there when I went on Saturday. I didn’t go nearly as high as this guy in the video did though.

    December 31, 2013 at 9:42 pm #670214
    summersgone
    Participant

    Wow. That’s large, and lucky to not be taken. He rode a good high line to get out. I don’t know what or where that is, but from the video it seems like a pretty large slope for this time of year. And I assume he was solo as well?

    December 31, 2013 at 9:44 pm #670205
    HikeforTurns
    Participant

    http://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/obs/obs_report.php?&obs_id=21305

    https://maps.google.com/maps?q=estes+park&ll=40.385913,-105.656977&spn=0.052759,0.077162&hnear=Estes+Park,+Larimer,+Colorado&gl=us&t=p&z=14

    January 3, 2014 at 4:20 pm #670215
    cometogether
    Participant

    He did stay on the proper side of the slope but he basically ski cut that wind buff.. in the last couple of days I have been paying special attention to smaller convex rolls, the weight hanging over that roll in almost like a cornice that you cant see. When you load it, it stresses. lets play safe out there people and for Christ sake please– RIDE WITH OTHER PEOPLE-

    every time I go out I see solo riders taking big risks- :nononno: :scratch:

    January 3, 2014 at 5:04 pm #670216
    PedroDelfuego
    Participant

    Stay alert out there people! Head on a swivel as they say.

    January 3, 2014 at 6:03 pm #670217
    rky mtn srfr
    Participant

    Got up to Caribou/Anchor Mine yesterday to clear my head, and have a look at how it’s filling in there. Coverage is surprisingly good, looks like it was heavily skied on 1/1, but wind had filled in most tracks and was building. Conditions were ok in the trees (leeward side), and hard wind slab in the open (not so good riding conditions).

    In other news, a big frigging east facing slope ripped out on the way up to Jones Pass. Couldn’t tell from the report if it ran over the access road or not.
    http://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/obs/obs_report.php?obs_id=21515

    Lot’s of new snow in the forecast for the weekend, be avy safe!

    January 3, 2014 at 9:56 pm #670218
    summersgone
    Participant

    No snow really in the forecast here, so nothing great to report. But finally got my computer working to unload some pictures. Heres some from the last week.

    Python, 12/27, Snow was little firm at the complete top, but then little crust below, but pretty good overall. The dogs were the fastest that day. Wylie caught his owner skatebananas in about 5 seconds after this. 😯

    jcm

    jcm

    Old picture but good. 1st tour of my buddies year. Broke both approach skis in 3rd. Got a splitboard the week after.

    January 4, 2014 at 9:46 pm #670219
    Matt Wood
    Participant

    Holy smokes it dumped! :headbang: And I was pissed to have to ride the resort with Wifey… 😳

    January 5, 2014 at 1:29 pm #670220
    davidr
    Participant

    @summersgone wrote:

    Python, 12/27, Snow was little firm at the complete top, but then little crust below, but pretty good overall. The dogs were the fastest that day. Wylie caught his owner skatebananas in about 5 seconds after this. 😯

    Took me a few times of reading this to realize the dog’s name was not Skatebananas.

    One of the best resort days I’ve ever had yesterday, cb:

    January 10, 2014 at 2:48 pm #670221
    rky mtn srfr
    Participant

    Saw some of the biggest avalanches I’ve seen all season up in James Peak Wilderness when I toured up there on Tuesday (1/7). Guessing they all ran over the previous weekend. All slides were on East to Northeast aspects, near/above treeline. Snow was kind of crap (heavily wind effected) for splitboarding, but a pleasant day and nice tour. Pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/rky_mtn_srfr/sets/72157639620747114/

    January 10, 2014 at 3:04 pm #670222
    Matt Wood
    Participant

    Super tender in Routt county. Member of our party triggered a slab on yesterdays tour, Q1/2 shears seemingly after every storm cycle we have had. Worst I have seen in a number of years. Keep it mellow!

    January 10, 2014 at 3:19 pm #670223
    shredgnar
    Participant

    Yeah, good time to keep to mellow terrain. Love the new snow, but this avy danger is getting old. Welcome to CO.

    January 11, 2014 at 12:16 pm #670224
    Matt Wood
    Participant

    I can only imagine what this new load is going to do… I can ponder it from the chailift :headbang:

    January 13, 2014 at 5:54 am #670225
    FlorianS
    Participant

    Toured Bierstadt yesterday. Got exactly 0 turns. Coverage is thin, wind crust/sun effected with tons of depth hoar. Hoped to find some snow in the middle of the mountain, had a little snow on it, but definietly nothing rideable. The road was a nightmare, had to dig the truck out 3 times before we finally made it to duck lake. Coverage at Geneva Basin looked good pretty good though. The trees seem to be holding the snow well. Still had a great climb on a bluebird day….and who can really complain about that?

    January 13, 2014 at 4:15 pm #670226
    PedroDelfuego
    Participant

    We had wind of 70-90mph (Front Range) this weekend. Any snow that fell was rapidly redistributed in tree cross loaded gullies below treeline. It may make for some touch (and sneaky) windslabs. Bierstadt is 14k and would have received wind more like 100+mph.

    January 13, 2014 at 4:30 pm #670227
    summersgone
    Participant

    10 inches and 2.3 SWE added in the past 4-5 days, so pretty heavy snow, but good. Saturday forecast was completely wrong, was expecting 20-25 degrees/wind/clouds, but ended up with 40 degrees/sun/ no wind. That blew our plans to ride E facing all day. It ended up getting too hot by noon, meaning we had to switch plans making a funky day, but 2 runs for exercise was good. The surprising part was how many people were out on Saturday. At least 5 cars in every main trailhead. Certainly much more than normal.

    Sunday was good though, rode really deep. Snowed all day, probably 3 new inches throughout the day on top of the 6+ overnight. Didn’t cross a track for 2 runs. Good facet layer under the snow though is sketchy. Stayed in 30 degree terrain mostly. The dog was struggling with it, but had fun. Much less people out there, which shows me people here are certainly fair weather tourers.

    Looks like 10+ days of dry conditions again. So make the most of whats there now I guess. Because the rest of January is probably going to be pretty dry.

    January 14, 2014 at 4:00 pm #670228
    cometogether
    Participant

    thanks joel! 😆

    Conditions have been pretty stellar around these parts until that last 60mph wind storm took hold. ruined everything close to the top of treeline and above. Did provide some fun loading into the trees where you could actually see what was in front of you. 😯

    I have been happy with the snow stability on most NW-NE terrain around or under the dreaded 38′. Tried some south facing and it was total shit, good freshies on top of sun crust on top of sugar. West facing seems to be getting better but still somewhat unconsolidated. East aspects seem to be getting better but I have been much more happy riding north facing terrain.

    Coverage is getting good, finally able to look around and venture into some new areas.

    yep, weather will be clearing out for the next week or so, so we will see what happens with the layering after some sun and more wind… I have seen a lot of action up high lately. Lets stay on our game and keep getting them days!

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