Observer:
ab,jg,jg,kd
Activity:
skiing
Location:
S face Buttermilk ridge
Date:
1/13/08
Time:
11-4
Observation:
had rare powder conditions and sunshine all day on southerly slopes between 9200-10000 ft elev. snow was consistently supportive with minor surface crust. A pit on 28-30° S. facing slope had HS100cm CT results had an easy (10)reaction 10cm deep which was very light recent snow and then CThard 30+ at the base. within the pack were very evident sun crust layers one 35cm deep the other 55cm but did not get any reaction at these levels. the mid pack was generally 4 finger to fist hard. There was some evidence of light surface sloughing in steep gullies, which we avoided, and one whoomp in the flat woods on the approach. Very fun day in a wild place...
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Observer:
LM
Activity:
Ski
Location:
Green Mountain
Date:
12/30/07
Time:
am
Observation:
I went on a tour this morning up around Ashcroft. We toured up to Green Mountain above the Markley and dug a quick pit about 400ft below the summit in one of the looker's right gully coming from the top. Lots of wind activity up there, I skied the same line 4 days ago and the upper snowpack has changed quite a bit. The pit was NE facing, ~11.700ft, below treeline. Total Depth 138 cm, snow was pretty dense, heavy on top with little variation. There is a particularly dense layer (1F/P) from 38-75cm. The bottom ~10-15cm is all large facets (~2mm). A compression test revealed no clean shears in the upper layers but the column eventually failed on those bottom facets at 28.
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Observer:
JW, MH, and LY
Activity:
Touring, skiing
Location:
Taggert Hut to Pearl Pass
Date:
12/30/07
Time:
1:30 - 4:00pm
Observation:
We did not have much time or energy to make detailed observations as we were trying to make it to the Friend's Hut via Pearl Pass. Once we left the shelter of tree line near the Taggert Hut, the winds seemed to be steady out of the west north west. Gusts would blow us off balance (we think roughly 50-60+ mph winds) and the amount of snow moving around brought visibility to 5 feet... maybe. Extreme wind loading was happening all around and just below Pearl Pass we kicked off a soft slab with about a 2' crown on an ESE facing slope. Today the weather was better but the temperature dropped and the wind was still present although not to the same degree. Bottom-line... be very careful above treeline. This wind event has definitely made E, SE, and probably NE slopes very reactive and with the cold temps it's probably not going to change much in the next day or two. Happy New Year.
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Observer:
jh
Activity:
skiing
Location:
Richmond Ridge
Date:
071229
Time:
10:00-14:30
Observation:
Not a ton of time for obs today, but most notable were a couple skier triggered surface sloughs. The first was around 10,700ft on a short 40° rollover on an ENE aspect. This occured in low density powder about 30cm deep, but only ran 4-5 meters down the short pitch before stopping. The second was on a WSW facing side of a gulley at 10,100ft just above Midnight Mine rd. This one involved only the upper 10-15cm running on top of some older sun crusts. Both of these were the result of ski cuts put onto suspect slopes. Neither of these ran very far nor did they entrain enough snow to bury a person, but could have taken you where you didn't want to go. Nonetheless, good evidence of the effects the recent cold temps and strong gradients.
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Observer:
Brian
Activity:
Typing
Location:
The Office
Date:
12/29/07
Time:
9:30
Observation:
The Roaring Fork Avalanche Center/ CAIC Aspen Office still needs your support. Join us for our annual fundraiser at Restaurant Six89 in Carbondale on Monday, January 14th, 2008. Drinks, social hour, and silent auction start at 6pm. Four course meal and matching wines included in the price. Don't miss out on this great once a year event!! Reservations being taken at 970-963-6890. More information on the event coming soon here on the RFAC homepage. The success and survival of your local forecast office greatly depends on this evening!! Please consider attending.
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Observer:
AW, DB
Activity:
Skiing
Location:
west side of Aspen mtn "Ophirs to Stophers"
Date:
12/26/07
Time:
12:45 pm
Observation:
-Temp: -5c
-sky: broken
-wind: was calm
-precip: none
- HS: 120 cm
- Aspect: west
- Incline: 38 degrees
Snow pack : 25-35 cm of new snow resting on the older mid pack starting to slab up. fist + / 4 finger - on top of 1 finger rounds then 4finger facets at the bottom. 2 ECT showed easy failures of the new snow of Q3 under the side of the column loaded (NP). 2nd extended column showed a hard failure 26 witch propagated Q2 on the facets at the bottom.
Skiing was excellent supportive knee deep pow even near the valley bottom. Minimal sluffing on steeper shots.
1 R4 D2 N avalanche on a NW aspect in the true Keno Gully or toilet bowl. looked like the bed surface was rock and old snow. very steep slope 40+. around 48 hrs old
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Observer:
Activity:
skiing
Location:
Five fingers
Date:
12/24/07
Time:
10AM - 2PM
Observation:
Easterly aspects had been loaded slightly from the westerly winds over the past few days. There was very little natural activity and no deep snow releases observed. There was one shallow snow release around a rocky area as we traversed the ridge. While skiing we noticed the top 8" or so was quite reactive as we released a small fracture that ran very slowly. I would definitely urge caution and picking the safest route possible as the snow is not confidence inspiring at the moment. While the snow on steeper, shady aspects is amazing to ski right now, it is not all that safe. Be careful out there!
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Observer:
Jon
Activity:
skiing
Location:
here
Date:
12/22/07
Time:
now
Observation:
Glad to see that this site will still be used for an observations page. It's a tremendously valuable information source. Thanks to RFAC for maintaining!
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Observer:
Brian
Activity:
Observation Page Update
Location:
office
Date:
12/17/2007
Time:
0800
Observation:
Great to see people out in the backcountry this weekend! Good question about the observations here on the RFAC site. Any weather, snowpack, or avalanche observations from the Roaring Fork Valley can still be submitted to this site. These observations are extremely valuable to local forecasts! The CAIC has a new observation database in the works and it should be up and running this winter. Until then, lets keep up the local information here at the RFAC site. I will keep you all updated with the status of the CAIC site in the near future. Happy holidays!!
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Observer:
jg,ab,kd
Activity:
ski
Location:
green mtn./ashcroft
Date:
12/15/2007
Time:
all day
Observation:
Toured all day @ Green Mtn. Temp. at ashcroft parking lot @8am was -17 (car thermo that's pretty accurate). Temps. probably didn't get into double digits and if they did it wasn't for long. WNW winds were pretty strong aloft judging by the plumes coming off the higher surrounding peaks. Skied some W facing mod gladed slopes (25-30deg) and found the pack to be really variable as far as depths. The surface was consistent winter powder though w/supportive midpack. We then moved to ENE side of ridge and dug a pit @ 11,000' on a 35deg. slope. The HS was 95cm. We recorded a CT15Q2 and CT14Q2 for the two test columns. Even though the shear wasn't super clean it seemed to "pop" w/enrgy. Both failed at 75cm deep at the interface of the dense midpack(40-45cm thick) and facet layer (20cm thick). Confirmed what CAIC has been warning us about. Definitely downgraded some of our plans. No obs of any naturals or settling.
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Observer:
Activity:
wondering
Location:
aspen
Date:
12/13/2007
Time:
pm
Observation:
will this site be used anymore? there doesn't seem to be a place on the state site where one can peruse observations. this has been useful in the past...
thanks
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