Benchmark Pit Report 01/10/12
Tuesday I made the most of the sunny afternoon to shoot up to the top of Benchmark, poke around and see what’s going on back in EV. Skinning out from Two Elk’s, it’s pretty obvious we are no where near the much needed snow pack to get things rolling in the back bowls. I love the sunshine, but seeing a brown-out on all the south facers that were caked deep only twelve months prior is a bit of a downer. Guess the snow is only hanging in the shade and baking in the sun. The slopes are littered with surface hoar, caused by the clear night’s frost and the sunshine baking bonds into weak facets.
Storms like this past Saturday’s is a little more what we could use three times a week for the rest of the month, but let’s face it, what’s here is now… and now we have a pretty weak snow pack. Studying the avy roses of the CAIC, the weakest areas should lie on the east facing slopes in the Vail-Summit Zone. I decided that’s exactly where I would belay to a shaded 38 degree slope on the NE side of the tall pines that separate East Abe’s and the open east facing slopes of Benchmark. Reason being, this is most likely where persistant weaknesses will remain throughout this season’s snow pack.
I harnessed up and tied in with the glacier line around a stout tree. Please be clear, it is not my intention to rope off and start popping off slides on purpose. A safety line is in every guide’s pack and is an extremely important tool for any back country traveler. Not to mention, it is the 8th Commandment in Bruce Tremper’s “Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain”: “Thou shalt use a Belay rope! Most serious avalanche professionals carry and use a belay rope.”
I am not an avalanche professional (yet), but I do posses the knowledge and self-preservation skills to have a 30m glacier line as a part of my BC toolkit. Hopefully it’s a last resort preventative from crack, pop, pin-ball ride through trees and a push off a cliff.
I dug a pit in what could be the sweet spot of a likely starting zone. During the careful descent amongst sloughing loose snow and little failures of the top layer my observations showed that there weren’t any cracks propagating off into the distance, but the small failures under my skis were enough to be wary of.
Got settled in, dug the “pit” and started to gather some data. There are presently as of 1/10/2012, 3:00pm above 11,400 ft. East Vail Proper, three layers to this shallow 70cm “snow pack”. The bottom 30cm is basically larger facets slightly bonded resting on depth hoar. The next 30-55/60cm are comprised of faceted loose grains and the very top layer 55-70cm is the last storm accumulation. The exposed snow is already riddled with surface hoar. Doesn’t look too great for the future, but some avi cycles are likely to occur with a big snow and flush this particular zone of some of those pesky white dragons for the time being. The snow pack is constantly changing and this does not mean that those dragons will not creep back into the mix in the future. So, beware.
An isolated column test resulted in the top 58-70cm layer failing after four shots from the wrist. Not too surprising, while the break was not completely a shear one (Q3). Four shots from the elbow failed at the 30-58cm range, again not a clean break (Q3). Under the right conditions, I’m sensing a collapse in these weaker layers after a good snowfall, or a human loads them.
For the real snow nerds out there (myself included), I measured the temps of the pack to see if there were any major gradients. Chose to use 20cm increments to measure within the noticeable layers and came up with 0 deg. Celsius at 10cm, -1.7 at 30cm, -3.4 at 50cm and -6 at 70cm. Towards the bottom 10-30cm that’s 8.5 deg/m, 17 deg/m in the middle
and 13 deg/m at the top. The numbers below 30cm represent a weak temp gradient (<10 deg. C/m). The rest of the snow pack has a strong temp gradient (>10 deg. C/m), and results in a loss of strength with facet formation. Math aside, we have plenty of weak snow to make conditions unfavorable in the future.
Cautiously negotiating my away from terrain traps and cliff bands, I skied my way to the lower angled aspect of East Abe’s and made some really fun turns. Crossing the creek and sticking skier’s right, I rode through the deeper shaded snow amongst the short pines until the waterfall. The ride was sugary and mellow. After the falls, the traverse left into the woods and the scarcely packed ski trail was extremely variable. We definitely need some serious snow in those woods to make the ride back to the bus a little less rough. The last bit of the trail is packed down by some snowmobiles and make the last portion along the water tower a welcoming slide home.
Not bad for my first “benchmark to water tower” trip of the year. Grand from afar, far from grand. It will be interesting to see how the snow pack in the zone evolves and how conditions will change as our season trudges on. Glad I was able to take the afternoon for some recon and gauge conditions until the next storm. Until then, keep it safe and pray for more snow!
Mushroom bowls 12/27-12/28
With the holiday crowds closing in, I skinned my way up to Mushie two days in a row to check out the snow on both the West and North aspects in the gladed 20-30 degree terrain for something to do. The ridge top had variable areas of 10 cm wind board on facets to soft wind blown crust over, you geussed it, more facets, to dirt patches. The first five upper low angle turns off the ridgeline were decent, fresh turns on stale cake. As the pitches steepened and rolled toward the cliff band that runs in the middle of Mushroom Bowl, the skiing turned to a barely covered nightmare of no more than 60 cms of 2mm facets on rocks and fallen trees. The best way to describe a weighted ski turn two thirds of the way down is hitting a sandcastle with a baseball bat. The snow looses cohesion, disintegrates under the weight and the facets run to the dirt in a glittering hiss below the turn. A frightening prospect for a basal layer for our snow pack when (think positive) our weather cycle does turn back to snow.
If we continue to get small amounts of snow with long periods of calm weather in between, then avalanche wise it’s really no problem, it will just be a low tide year for the central mountains like most of AK’s mountains had last year. However, if we do see an averaging out of the snowfall amounts in the last two thirds of the season, then I have to imagine we will have a signifigant avalanche cycle with the first large dump. With the depth of snow in EV ranging from dirt to sixty cm of loose facets that on both West and North aspects, a two foot dump would rip to the ground with little effort with any kind of rapid loading of typical cold low density mid-winter snow on such a weakly bonded base layer. Our best hope is precip to come in warm and wet and alot of it. Or a storm comes in with such rapid loading that EV flushes itself out naturally overnight and cleans out what has become a forgettable early season mess on all aspects.
Something else to check out. Noaa has an interesting report on their website on the effect La Nina will have on Colorado weather for the rest of the winter. Much of it is super technical, but it is interesting to read the atmospheric science based precipitation predictions for the next six months. I won’t ruin it for you, check it out and draw your own conclusions.
It was a relief to get out into Mushie and skin far far away from the madnesss happening with the holidays in Vail. Just passing Two Elk helped my personal holiday decompression. The lack of sno, however trying, fails to make the skin up to the top of Benchie any less beautiful. The black, grey and white spattered Gore range, gaunt and bare, stretched into a sky littered with purple and grey clouds streaming in from the Northwest. A few tendrils of snow stretched down to touch the very tops of the Gore Range, but the wisps were wishful thinking for a range that is now feet away from average. I enjoyed standing on the top of Benchie again, wind howling and no one around. Pretty much ski hiked the last two thirds of the run both days to the road, but I enjoyed the taste of the EV experience that I have, admittedly, taken for granted over the last fourteen years.
12/20 Hey Ullr, we’re f*****g waiting…
Well….
What can we say here at EVI, except what a difference a year makes. The Christmas crush is on here at Vail and I truly feel for our VA worker bees at the moment. With limited terrain to operate with and a full Christmas crowd they have their hands full, good luck to the folks in the trenches.
EVI is supposed to be about all things East Vail. Honestly at the moment, there is nothing to report on because skiing anywhere out there isn’t worth it. We are in an early season powder hibernation with plenty of sunny high pressure dominating our weather while the Pineapple Express soars northward and pounds B.C and AK. There have been a few reported defectors I know of that have bolted north. Cowards. Most of us are here for the long haul, to ride it out and wait for the weather shift in a long season to come. Luckily, we are better off than Tahoe and parts of Europe, and are open. We all (myself included) need keep that in mind and be grateful for the little things while waiting for the faucet to turn on.
I refuse to bring out the bike again (out of principle) and will be taking a break from the Christmas skiercross on Vail Mountain. I’m considering a walk into the Gore on Wed to check out the snow pack, but it’s obvious the snow is lacking the pack at the moment. The little settled storm snow on top of loose facets of various size and shape, brimming with surface hoar doesn’t bode well for the next snow load. Danger is said to be moderate, and I’m sure that there a areas of wind drifted slabby old storm snow that could pop and drag you for a rocky ride, but my concern is looking forward, as there is no avalanche danger on my couch where I will be untill conditions drastically improve. Posted a new HP (hard pack) video from last spring, I’m sure you all can identify with the sound of edges on fresh, frozen groomed. Good fun, scary fast.
Do what you can out there people. Wash your car, tune up the race skis, start painting you house, whatever it takes. Sacrifice a virgin? Might be a little early for human sacrifice, we’re pow addicts not monsters right? Plus it’s the Vail valley, so good luck with that… Merry Christmas all, ask Santa for a three footer if you get a chance…
Old Man’s 11/7/11
Hey all,
Headed out into the bluebird Wendsday afternoon, eager to escape the groomed confines of early season Vail. I decided to head to the emptiness of EV. I skinned up Sourdough and headed past Two Elk, where the workers were just starting to pull out the picnic tables from the stacks. The back was empty and parts of the West Wall sat pasted an early season brown and white. Up the Silk Road I went and headed out the back door route to Old Mans’. It was nice to get out and stand on top of the ridge and take in the expanse of EV once again, though it looked vastly different than the last time I stood on the ridge. The prominent cliff band off the right side Old Mans’ entrance, which disappeared some time in January last year, was in full view now. At present it lies just below the ridge crest, but after a half season of regular snow load, the cliff band is at least thirty to forty feet below the entrance. The growth of the scarp above the cliff band is a true testement to the amount of snow transport that occurs at this spot due to the prevailing Westerly winds. Rocky tiers, cliffs and shrubs belie what was a smooth, fast entrance crowned by a massive cornice eight months ago.
I picked my way through the entrance and dove between rocky ledges and shrubbery, taking time to cut various pillowed pockets between rockbands. These small wind drifted areas provide good test spots for stability. There was little reactivity, and the old settled storm snow sitting on the usual layer of larger loose “October” facets skied like two feet of baking soda feeling unconsolidated and, of course, thin.
I skied cautiously to the flats and headed out to the highway instead of braving the thin cross cut over to the bus stop. I linked super slow pow turns in the trees on my way down, working my way past the half buried stumps and downed trees toward the highway. More snow than I thought, but two feet away from glory… Paitence friends and think snow.
11/30/2011 Uniquely Uneva
Still in the midst of the waiting game, Wednesday November, 30th was the perfect opportunity to dust the cob webs off the ‘ol Avi gear and put the “Avalanche Thinking Hat” back on to go poke around in the Vail Pass Backcountry.
The week was full of sunshine and moderate temps that kept the somewhat minimal “snow pack” at a danger scale of Low or Level-1 on NW-S aspects below treeline up to the peaks. Aspects near and above treeline facing N-SE were rated as Moderate, or Level 2. Wednesday afternoon was a true bluebird day, mid thirties on the mercury, 34% humidity and 5-10 mph winds out of the west at 10,600 ft. All signs pointed to Uneva as a first good “tour” of the season, with relatively safe conditions and a chance to hunt down some ski-able powder.
Starting out at the Vail Pass Winter Rec Area, sets of perfect powder turns were already visible up on the SW facing aspect of the drainage just South of the Uneva bowl. A well established skin track already set on Corral Creek Trail made it very nice not to have to break trail, but here and there to keep in tune with “Avi-Thinking”, it’s really important to me to get out of the grooves and break some trail of my own, to gather info and tune into the signals and Red-Flag warnings the ascending trek and snow pack can scream or whisper at me… i.e; whoomphing, collapsing, cracking and sinking up to the top boot buckles. Not to mention poking into the snow pack to gather data on depth and what kinds of hazards are lurking under the deceiving white surface of snow. There are still some buried roots/downed logs, “Shark Fins” (buried rocks) just waiting for an unsuspecting rider to viciously end their season early… Right now the data is a mixed bag of sun drenched areas with zero snow up to two and a half foot deep drifts and everything in between, so be very careful on the way down!
Each step of the trek through the old fire-scarred area just South of Uneva up into the 30 degree sloped gully produced incredible views that improved with each lunge upward. Soon, treeline was well below and Panoramic views of the Ten-Mile and Sawatch Ranges started to peak out in all directions. The ridge-top was so scoured by 20-30 mph wind gusts that boot packing was the only remaining option of ascent. As I traversed north to the ridge-line that lay south of Uneva Peak, it was obvious that the prevailing west winds have been working hard to load the easterly aspects with as much faceted snow as possible. This wind loading is burying the “White Dragons” of the past record-breaking 2010-2011 winter season and hiding potentially very deadly scenarios for our upcoming season. Just stick that under your Avy-Savy-Hats and save it for later on this winter…
There was the first “Red-Flag” of the Tour! The Next was a 40-60 meter long crack that had shot up-slope from where a bunch of dog tracks danced in circles out on the wind loaded cornice. The crack measured a fist and a half to two fists wide creating a semi-truck wide cornice that would have no doubt given that pooch a First-Class ride to a summit county demise on the east side of the ridge. The third and final “Red-Flag’ of the day was my misstep from the scoured solid earth of the ridge into a thigh deep hole just short of the previously mentioned cornice. What a way to emphasize the oldest Avi-Traveling rule in the book… never walk out onto a cornice! That sixty pound dog was lucky, just another 100 lbs. and a few more of those deep steps out onto no-no-land and you’ve got the human factor that so famously causes deadly avalanches.
With all the data and info fresh in my head, “Red-Flags” resonating their priceless messages and the final ascent to the 12,522ft peak that is Uneva, I took the time to sit down and reflect on my journey to the summit. All of the little details and warnings add up to one of the most important decisions of the tour; how and where to descend. I opted for the SW facing shoulder of Uneva north of the Cirque, stuck to the 30 degree and fewer pitches and stayed clear of the rock features that create the chutes. Half traversing, half dropping into steeper zones, navigating the terrain was a mix of sun baked crust, facet filled depressions and full-on powder near and below treeline. Sticking to the shaded sides of the trees and the uphill side of the drainage that flows out of the Uneva Basin, I quickly descended to the natural downhill ramp that leads back to corral creak trail, the car, safety, a hot meal, and not to mention cold beers with good friends.
Not a bad first tour of the season! Being able to take advantage of the chance to dust off the Avi-thinking dust and cobwebs, the opportunity to snap shots of the surrounding mountains and scenery are what makes living and riding in the Vail Valley backcountry so rewarding and enjoyable!
11/19/11 The waiting game
Well the one two punch that the weather service called for last week was a swing and a miss. A few inches of the funkiness up above 9000′ lots of graupel and dense wet snow, otherwise the system that was supposed to dump eight to sixteen limped on through. Ever notice when they call for 12+ inches we usually get a lower amount? Converesely, my favorite forecast is the one to three variety, some of the biggest dumps I’ve seen have come from the storms that are only supposed to be glancing blows. Probably just the psychology of ski bum perception and logic, but hey if the shoe fits…
Opening day at vail was pretty average, with warm temps and a few screamers to satisfy the jones. The afternoon became a zoo. After getting stuck in the aftermath of a fatal accident on Gitalong Road of all places, I decided it was time to get out of the way of those looking to cram an entire season of near season ending experiences in one day,all hopped up on red bull and ski porn. It was great to ride some lifts, face in the sun, and ski a couple runs with ski friends just emerging from off-season hibernation. Feeling the edges on the first groomer of the year there is a sense of awakening, of the purpose of the next seven months. Each season develops uniquely and writes its own story. What will this year bring?
The snow is back briefly this weekend and should hopefully provide the extra snow needed to open the next series of lifts and terrain, getting our access farther east and filling in the terrain hazards in and out of vail boundaries. It’s the waiting after the waiting, and it’s good to see the snow falling outside the window again. EVI will be out digging in the snow as soon as its warranted and let you know what we find. Stay calm and move along.
Weather Forecast
Coming at ya! Absolutely pouring down rain here in Tacoma, WA. Should be coming your way in Colorado over the next few days. Something you all should know about me, pretty much whenever I fly into Denver or drive back up from the airport…there is a huge snow storm. Last time I can remember, we were in the last car over Vail pass for the night and really shouldn’t have been allowed to proceed. Couldn’t see a damn thing! The next morning was 13in. of light and fluffy pow with the city of Denver trapped on the other side of the pass in summit county for the whole morning. So, the answer is yes, I will start accepting payment if you are fiendin’ for some powder and want me to fly somewhere.
11/7/11 First turns of the year
mid vail on Nov. 6th
Well, I broke down. I couldn’t wait any longer and the eight inches of light density snow were enough to get me out of bed at six a.m. and to the bottom of the Vistibahn by seven to meet my freind Brenden. Time to get a run up on the frontside of Vail mountain to kick my ski season off. We headed out of the Visti corral and headed up the cat track/road to the cut off to mid Vail. There were many folks heading up chair ten way, so we deided to take the road less traveled to the top of chair two. The skin was a leisurely two hours,enjoying a crisp, sparkeling morning that held both snow and sun for us . We chose to gingerly ski Avanti for the first run on Vail mountain for the year. I’m pretty superstitious about early season turns. Always hear the horror stories of some poor soul ruining his ski season early due to some ill advised early season charging. I intend to never end up in that circumstance, so caution was the name of the game. Indeed, I harvested the suprsingly good early season pow turns at a less than blistering pace, always wary of what is lurking underneath the thin snow. We skied our way down to Bear Tree, enjoying the six to eight inches of light density snow without hitting bottom. As we descended, the snow gradualy set up and thinned out, but we only had to walk 25 yards of the cat track to get back to the Visti. The steep pitch on Avanti was suprisingly nice reintroduction to powder turns and we had it all to ourselves. Anytime you can start the season off with some pow turns that’s all you can really ask for. If you head up, take care and be aware of the unseen hazards of early season conditions. Water bars, stumps and of course , rocks can ruin your day. Its a long season, make sure you stick around for all of it.
11/2/2011 Surface Hoar
Next storm rolled through, dumped a few coveted inches on top of our much maligned basal layer. Came in warm, started as rain and cooled off as the night progressed. Nice to wake up to the first day of work at Troy’s Ski Shop to snow. Doesn’t seem right when you’re mounting skis in warm sixty degree weather. In keeping with the last post, I wanted to address another lurking hazard prevalent in(on) early season snow pack, surface hoar. As I was riding to East Vail before this last snow, I noticed the fern like crystals stacked up on the snow next to the bike path. Clear, cold skies and high humidity are ideal conditions to produce these feathery crystals that lie vertically on top the snow.
Strong in load, but not in shear, these crystals can support subsequent snowfalls until critical stress on the fragile slab is triggered by you, intrepid backcountry traveler. Surface hoar is hard to keep track of. It can be destroyed by wind in some areas while persisting in others. Even by digging a pit in the locale that you want to ski, it is hard to determine if buried surface hoar is still present in the entirety of the area you are going to put a load onto by riding. Next time a cold clear night happens with little wind, check around the next day to see if those crystals are around and file it into your never-ending assessment of the growing snowpack around you.
Preseason snow report 10/27/11
Everything is right with the world. Late October and the first of the storms that will constitute the beginnings of our snowpack has rolled through and given way to clear and sunny skies before we get our next storm. This is fairly typical for the late October snows, although last year was an anomaly as the snow kept coming and coming. This year it seems high pressure will build back and temperatures look like they will rise a bit before we return to a storm cycle. With the clear warmer weather moving back in, it is important to keep an eye on the snow in the coming weeks. Without getting covered by subsequent storms, this first layer can degrade into loose facets, a potential weak layer for future snow to slide on . Nothing is certain and this is only a bit of early season snow alchemy, but it is backed by my experiences in the past of our Continental snowpack and the effect of this first layer has in East Vail early season. It is one of the hallmarks of or Colorado snowpack, relatively shallow and complex with many different layers and usually a problematic layer at the bottom, at least to start the season, until it either consolidates in the snow pack or flushes out with the first significant avalanche cycle.
Of course we can’t predict the bonding that will happen with extra load until the next storms arrive, and the amount of degradation depends on many factors. Aspect, temperatures, snowfall, sun hit and elevation are some of major factors that have an impact on the metamorphosis of the snow. Bottom line, it is a storm and a layer to be mindful of as the season starts to move forward, especially as we get into the beginning of the backcountry ski season in November. As always, rely your own assessment of the snow. Just some things to think about from your friends at EVI.
Friends…
East Vail Institute 