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Up-to-date information on the alpine routes, backcountry skiing, and trail
conditions for Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Snow conditions
and avalanche danger are forecast by Eli Helmuth, an AMGA certified rock, alpine, and ski mountaineering guide and the new owner of ClimbingLife Guides, a year-round guide service based in Estes Park offering worldwide mountain trips and local seminars in the climbing and skiing arts.
<span class="">jan009 conditions</span>
Warning: Route
conditions change constantly, especially in the mountains.
Climbing
and backcountry skiing are dangerous. Be flexible in
your plans,
prepare for the worse case scenario, and be experienced enough
for what
you are doing. Seek qualified instruction and use proper
equipment. ClimbingLife and its owners
accept no liability for your decisions in the peaks.
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January
9th, 2009
Conditions Report
(Jan. 10th Update below)
Rocky Mountain National Park
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Dragontail
Spire in the afternoon light on January 9th, 2009
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Lumpy
Ridge on the morning of January 9th. There were approx. 2" of
new new snow at the Bear Lk. trailhead on this same morning.
The warm weather this last week heated up this south-facing hillside
very effectively. There would be some cold jams
(and sticky rock) available at Lumpy and with no wind in the
valley and a strong sun, not bad for January. Any takers?
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Following a week of raging winds and a shot of new moisture, the high
country of Rocky Mountain National Park was looking a bit more wintery
on January 9th with the trees holding 2-4 inches of new snow on their
limbs.
Up to a foot of fresh powder (6-8 inches avg.) was covering the ground
in the below- treeline and treeline zones on my ski tour from the Bear
Lk. trailhead to the west end of Emerald Lake and into the Dragontail
Couloirs. |
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The
avalanche danger was rated overall MODERATE today (1/9) by the CAIC
with this danger rating being forecast for all elevation ranges and
aspects in the Front Range mountains which include RMNP.
This is the first time this year that the avalanche danger rating has
gone this low and so while I was up touring in the Tyndall Gorge, I
took a look at the signs and symptoms of this potential.
While stomping around with my skis on some of the north-facing slopes
at treeline between Dream and Emerald Lakes, I was able to
cause some deep collapses (1.5 meter down on the ground/basal/depth
hoar facets) . This was done on small 'test slopes" angled in
the upper 30's in somewhat dense trees and isolated steeper
sections.
I checked some of these north-facing, treeline elevation range slopes where this strong over weak layering has been the biggest
avalanche issue thus far this winter in Colorado, and found that the
snowpack here is still relatively weak and should be treated with suspicion.
Caution is advised when considering travel on the steeper north and
east, lee-loaded aspects. Despite the lower avalanche danger rating, there are still plenty of pieces of terrain that are not supportive of the snowpack above and where you could very likely cause a large slab avalanche.
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The
Dragontail Couloir was in solid enough looking ski shape on Friday and with the 6-8 inches of powder sitting in there, it looked pretty good for sliding down. Wind-caused slabs could have formed in the meantime
and there is no knowing yet what tomorrow will bring, but on this day
conditions were pretty ideal in this specific chute, which is always a risky proposition to slide down at high speeds on snow.
There was evidence of loose snow avalanche debris a few meters thick on the central (right) Dragontail Couloir, primarily near the bottom. No evidence of crowns or other debri were observed but there are still many rocks near the surface on the lower slopes and I was stopped quickly below Emerald by a tree root near the trail that my ski dove under!
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This is what the CAIC is
currently saying about avalanche danger in these mountains and I concur with limited recent observations in the Longs Peak to Trail Ridge Road, east side of RMNP for Jan. 9th, 2009:
"The avalanche
danger for the Front Range zone is generally MODERATE. In
the danger may be higher in the Cameron Pass area, which received more
snow during the last event. Moderate avalanche danger means that
natural avalanches are unlikely, but human triggered avalanches are
possible. Historically, in Colorado most fatal avalanche accidents
occur when the danger is rated moderate." -CAIC
(Jan. 10th Update)
Backcountry travellers should be highly aware that conditions change quickly and yesterday's powder can be today's dangerous wind slab as we experienced on our Avalanche Seminar on Saturday, Dec. 10th. Extreme wind turbulence along the Continental Divide produced white-out conditions above treeline and at treeline elevations (approx. 10k), there was substantial wind loading occurring and steep, forested slopes or open glades have consistent strong over weak layering that were producing difficult but clean shears at approx. 80cm depths. There are finger and pencil density slabs sitting on numerous thick faceted layers including well developed depth hoar grains on all treeline aspects.
Wind loading above treeline was severe on the 10th and both slab formation and D2-3 sluffs should be expected in the on the lee and cross-loaded slopes such as the Dragontail Couloirs, along the base of Hallett, and on any other steeper than 30 degree terrain. We did some slope cutting yesterday(1/10) on steep (35-45), north aspects at treeline and released a few 4-6" slabs that propogated just 1-2 meters. These cross-loaded slopes at 10.5K in the Tyndall Gorge had a snowpack that varied between bare ground and open glades with an avg. 250cm snowpack.
As always, less-supported slopes, those with cliffs along the base or cornices at the top are most suspect due to their lack of structural integrity and lee slopes (N,E, S) will currently have CONSIDERABLE Avalanche Danger as of January 10th due to the higher potential for easily triggered wind-formed slabs and the potential for large sluffs in steeper terrain.
The west ridge of
Longs and Pagoda Peak, north buttress of Hallett
Peak, and the lower Dragontails.
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The Squid
is one of the testpiece ice routes when it is IN shape, which in my 10
years of experience in RMNP has been a rare occurrence. Only a
handful of weeks really over the decade has The Squid been IN and last
year was without a doubt the best for this classic and very ephemeral
ice route.
When it's above freezing and sunny like much of the last week
has been, this ice route can disappear quickly or go from IN to very
dangerous in less than an hour... such is the fickle nature of this
sport. Currently The Squid is OUT of ice shape but in good mixed shape protected by large cams at approx. 5.10+. |
Afternoon
light drapes the Tyndall Gorge on January 9th, 2009.
We'll be out in these canyons of Rocky Mountain National Park on most days in the weeks and months to come. Following the Avalanche Seminar this weekend, I'll post our pit data and a more detailed avalanche forecasts as conditions and snowpack change.
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Joanne and I are very excited about the start of our new
guide service: ClimbingLife Guides
which opens the doors for business this week. We
are based in Estes Park
and will be offering outings and seminars in Rocky Mountain
National
Park, Eldorado Canyon and around the world in the climbing and
backcountry skiing arts. Eli will be leading all of our trips
while
Joanne manages the business.
We hope that many of you
will choose to use our services when looking to further your
understanding of the avalanche phenomenon as Eli has the experience as
an educator and practitioner to maximize your learning
experience. Our
seminars in backcountry skiing include in-depth assessments of
avalanche
conditions and practice of safer travel techniques, route finding, and
avalanche rescue skills.
Or
maybe you'd like to join Eli for a great day out in
Rocky Mountain
National Park while sliding through some of the best powder that the
Front Range has to offer. Our first bookings start
on January 9th
and we'll look forward to sharing many great
adventures in the
mountains and canyons with many of you in the years to come.
Best of luck with all your adventures in 2009!
Eli and Joanne Helmuth
ClimbingLife Guides
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American avalanche Danger Scale |
Danger Level
(& Color) |
Avalanche Probability and Avalanche
Trigger |
Degree
and Distribution of Avalanche Danger
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Recommended
Action
in the Backcountry
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| ...WHAT...
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...WHY... |
...WHERE... |
...WHAT TO DO... |
LOW
(GREEN) |
Natural avalanches very
unlikely. Human triggered avalanches unlikely |
Generally stable snow.
Isolated areas of instability. |
Travel is generally
safe. Normal caution is advised. |
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MODERATE
(YELLOW) |
Natural avalanches
unlikely. Human triggered avalanches possible.
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Unstable slabs possible
on steep terrain. |
Use caution in steeper
terrain and on certain aspects. |
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CONSIDERABLE
(ORANGE) |
Natural
avalanches possible. Human triggered avalanches probable.
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Unstable
slabs probable on steep terrain. |
Be increasingly
cautious in steeper terrain. |
HIGH
(RED) |
Natural and human
triggered avalanches likely. |
Unstable slabs likely
on a variety of aspects and slope angles.
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Travel
in avalanche terrain is not recommended. Safest travel on windward
ridges and lower angle slopes without steeper terrain above.
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EXTREME
(BLACK) |
Widespread
natural or human triggered avalanches certain.
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Extremely unstable slabs certain on
most aspects and slope angles. Large, destructive avalanches possible. |
Travel in avalanche terrain should
be avoided and travel confined to low angle terrain well away from
avalanche path run-outs.
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