What's normal snowfall for a winter in Colorado? A graph for 30 seasons in Crested Butte shows it varies widely. The black slotted line is the 30 year average. Red line was the 2012/2013 season. CSAW presented this graph last year during an interesting talk about how they formulate weather forecasts for Colorado.
It’s been a tough week for the backcountry community after losing five friends in avalanche deaths.
In When People Die, Lou asked readers for their thoughts on how to cope with grief as well as honor the departed. Craig Zematis wrote in, “…I’m going to celebrate these 5 athlete’s lives by checking my beacon’s batteries, re-reading my avi books, and getting ready for another winter’s worth of living life…”
We attend at least one on-snow avi skill workshop every season and do beacon drills as often as we can, but our biggest defense is evaluating forecast and snow conditions. When the risk is high or considerable we stay off most avalanche slopes.
For ongoing education, we’ll attend CSAW, Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s annual workshop on October 17th. It’s a one day seminar in Breckenridge, Colorado. Topics cover a wide range and offer useful information for beginners and professional forecasters alike.
Topics and speakers:
0845: Avalanche Problems and Accidents – Spencer Logan
0905: Using Crowd Sourced Data to Examine Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain -Jordy Hendrikx
0925: Developing Expert Intuition – Blase Reardon
1010: Time-lapse Photography as a Tool in Forecasting for Select Avalanche Problems – Ron Simenhois
1030: Mapping Starting Zone Snow Depth with a Ground-based LiDAR to Support Avalanche Control and Forecasting – Jeff Deems
1120: How Well are We Measuring Snow? – Ethan Gutmann
1140: The Winter Weather Prognosis – Joe Ramey
1340: Project Zero – Bruce Edgerly
1400: Developing a Mechanized-Hybrid Education Program in Colorado – Brian Lundtstedt
1420: Public & Professional Avalanche Curricula – Brian Lazar
1455: Recent Trends in Avalanche Risk Management on Public Highways – Alan Jones
1515: A Technical View of Slab Avalanche Release and Implications for Forecasting – Ron Simenhois
1545: The Avalauncher Incident on March 31, 2014 – CAIC and CDOT Staff
1605: Cupid Delivers a New Slide Path to Copper Mountain – Reed Ryan
Location:
The Breckenridge Riverwalk Center hosts CSAW 2014, 150 W Adams Ave, Breckenridge, CO 80424.
We encourage you to attend similar workshops in your area.
Recap of WildSnow posts for the past week:
Honey-Do Hot Tub for the Ski Touring Paradise
Review – Guidebook, Washington Backcountry Ski & Snowboard Routes
Andreas Fransson and JP Auclair Dead in Chile Avalanche
RIP Liz Daley — Avalanche in Patagonia
Diamir Vipec 12 — Inline Changes for 2014-2015
Marker Kingpin Binding — 10 Things to Know
WildSnow Girl, Lisa Dawson, is the luckiest girl in the world. Also known as Mrs. WildSnow.com, she tests whatever gear she wants. She gives the WildSnow family of websites the feminine voice.
