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The Artic chill in Colorado 

11/11/2014

2 Comments

 
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Photo by Greg Hansen
With a strong aroma of wood-burning stoves and an Artic chill in the air, it seems as if winter is finally here! After a relatively dry start to the season we are now starting to see a series of low pressure storms and precipitation make their way through and across the state. Along with it came a cold Artic air. With clear skies in the forecast today we chose a zone, grabbed out gear and headed out for some fresh fun. Cheers and thanks Greg for some awesome pics today!
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A safety briefing before we start the tour. Photo by Greg Hansen
Mostly clear throughout the day but winds howled with gusts of +60mph. The architect at work. 
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Doing some hand sheers. Photo by Greg Hansen
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Photo by Greg Hansen
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Photo by Greg Hansen
Then we made it to our zone. Especially with all the wind-loading we made sure to assess the new snow and stay somewhat cautious. We dug a small pit and did a few hand sheers in the lower slope and didn't find anything too reactive. We then did a first lap in the gully on the left of the below picture. Feeling good in the gully I decided to ski the main face in the pic. A bit steeper but we both talked it over and decided on me giving her a go. Second turn in and I initiated a small slide R1D1 on this NE face. Shortly after, Greg dropped the gully again and we assessed from there. We both decided to hike up and take a closer look at the slide. The slide was a soft 30cm windslab of new snow that slid on a pencil hard 5cm thick old Fall crust. The slope angle was about 36-38 degrees. While we somewhat expected that this might happen, we both felt the risks weren't that high if it did. It was a good indicator of how the wind has helped the new snow bond poorly to the old North facing Fall crusts. 
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Photo by Greg Hansen
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POW! Photo by Greg Hansen
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The slope spider-cracking below me. Photo by Greg Hansen
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30-40cm deep debris.
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After that we decided to keep it low angle the rest of the day. We ended up heading up higher to the summit bench and skied a couple more low angle lines before finishing off with one last ski down the first gully. A super windy day but it feels good to be in the doorway of winter!!
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Photo by Greg Hansen
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Photo by Greg Hansen
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Photo by Greg Hansen
Next bout of snow is due to make its was through here tomorrow!!
2 Comments
Nate
11/12/2014 02:33:56 am

What was the coverage like on the chutes on the north side of Trelease? It appears that is where you were doing your hand sheers.

Reply
Justin
11/13/2014 05:21:06 am

Its getting there. There was pretty much no base before this snow started hitting but definitely starting to fill in. Let it snow let it snow!!

Reply



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    Justin Ibarra
    jcuban42@gmail.com

    PO 4110
    Dillon, CO
    80435

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