lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
    For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
Ramfan24
Posts: 112
Joined: 7/23/2009
14ers: 30  1 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by Ramfan24 »

Question for those of you more avy savvy than I am. What do you think of the Southeast Ridge route on Columbia from a safety perspective based on recent weather?
User avatar
I Man
Posts: 1028
Joined: 7/18/2011
14ers: 58  49 
13ers: 74 7
Trip Reports (30)
 
Contact:

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by I Man »

Ramfan24 wrote:Question for those of you more avy savvy than I am. What do you think of the Southeast Ridge route on Columbia from a safety perspective based on recent weather?
The SE Ridge of Columbia is indeed safe from avalanches. The difficulties of this route are route finding/bushwhacking below treeline and the fact that you are above 13,000ft for 4 miles at the end. Start at the paved TH and follow the CO trail for a bit until you gain the ridge, then follow the ridge all the way up. It is a long day but a fun route and a good way to safely get this peak. A friend and I did this route around this time last year.
You can touch the void, just don't fall into it.

I fly a starship across the universe divide....and when I reach the other side...I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can. Perhaps I may become a Mountain Man again.
User avatar
jmanner
Posts: 1417
Joined: 5/26/2009
14ers: 58  28  10 
13ers: 55 14 3
Trip Reports (15)
 

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by jmanner »

Since this has become the avalanche info thread: What do you guys think of Quandary? Seems like staying on the ridge is low risk, but hard to tell via the: http://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=39.3959, ... s-11111111" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; awesomeness I have now discovered thanks to you folks!! =D>
A man has got to know his limitations.-Dr. Jonathan Hemlock or Harry Callahan or something F' it: http://youtu.be/lpzqQst-Sg8

'Life is too short to ski groomers'

"That man's only desire was to stand, once only, on the summit of that glorious wedge of rock...I think anyone who loves the mountains as much as that can claim to be a mountaineer, too."-Hermann Buhl, Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage
User avatar
Nelson
Posts: 396
Joined: 8/25/2008
14ers: 58  8  14 
Trip Reports (26)
 

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by Nelson »

From the CAIC:

Backcountry Avalanche Forecast for Sawatch Range today:

Despite varying snowfall amounts across the zone, storm instabilities are widespread and you can trigger avalanches on many slopes approaching 35 degrees today. With up to 26" of storm snow since Saturday and strong westerly and northwesterly winds, wind slabs and storm slabs are growing thicker and more sensitive and potential avalanches are growing in size. Expect to find sensitive wind slabs 2-3' thick on most slopes near and above treeline and in open areas below treeline. Several avalanches were reported near Whitepine in the southwest portion of the zone Tuesday. A large natural avalanche that was 400' wide by 1300' long ran on an east aspect above treeline in Buckhorn Basin.
In wind-protected areas below treeline, storm slabs up to 18" thick formed on a completely faceted snowpack. Avalanches could gouge out the entire snowpack to the ground and entrain a considerable amount of snow where you find faceted snow below freshly formed slabs. Warm temperatures and a rain on snow event below 10,000' created a crust before the storm snow fell on many slopes below treeline and sun-exposed slopes near and above treeline. The new snow came in warm and bonded well to this crust in most areas, but avalanches may be easier to trigger where you find this smooth bed surface below the storm snow. A snowmobiler remotely triggered a 16" deep, 50' x 60' pocket from 65' away that ran on this crust near Whitepine on Tuesday.

They added: Expect avalanche danger to remain elevated for the rest of week.

The Utah forecasters always add "if you don't have good route selection and navigation skills you should probably let it settle down a bit".
User avatar
TaylorHolt
Posts: 761
Joined: 5/6/2012
14ers: 58  2  15 
13ers: 210 7
Trip Reports (8)
 

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by TaylorHolt »

GregMiller wrote:In a general sense, check caltopo.com, turn on the slope shading option, and pick a route that stays off of, and out from underneath, anything shaded.
Note - I am not an avalanche expert, this is just what I would do to avoid avalanche terrain.
I could be wrong, but I think that shading is just for effect. I was looking at Elbert and there are some steeper slopes that aren't shaded and some gradual slopes that are shaded. It almost looks like they're imagining a sun in the NW sky which makes no sense.
“If you're bumming out, you're not gonna get to the top, so as long as we're up here we might as well make a point of grooving." -Scott Fischer
User avatar
madbuck
Posts: 1007
Joined: 6/16/2009
Trip Reports (6)
 
Contact:

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by madbuck »

Lemmiwinks wrote:
GregMiller wrote:In a general sense, check caltopo.com, turn on the slope shading option, and pick a route that stays off of, and out from underneath, anything shaded.
Note - I am not an avalanche expert, this is just what I would do to avoid avalanche terrain.
I could be wrong, but I think that shading is just for effect. I was looking at Elbert and there are some steeper slopes that aren't shaded and some gradual slopes that are shaded. It almost looks like they're imagining a sun in the NW sky which makes no sense.

I think you're referring to a simple "shaded relief topo," which indeed uses a convention of lighting from the top-left.

But the additional utility of CalTopo for avalanche danger that GregMiller is referring to is the "Slope Angle Shading." Playing around with this, you'll see that slopes are indeed coloured by steepness. I think that 36-38 degree slopes are coloured red, but this changes. Anyway, it's a useful tool to combine with current CAIC forecasts, like Nelson mentions. You'll also want to consider things like aspect and treeline. As an example, the South Elbert trail generally follows a ridgeline above steeper slopes, whereas the Black Cloud trail goes right up a steeper slope above treeline.
User avatar
SchralpTheGnar
Posts: 1882
Joined: 2/26/2008
14ers: 51  49  1 
13ers: 38 30
Trip Reports (22)
 

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

at least for me the slope shading feature isnt' working in caltopo.com right now, tested on mac os x 10.7.5 safari and chrome, windows 7 firefox 17

I click slope angle shading and it is the same as "shaded relief" , i see the legend at the bottom for the slope angles but nothing in the image.


Does anyone know if there are any avalanche slopes along the front range?
User avatar
mtree
Posts: 1473
Joined: 6/16/2010
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by mtree »

This is all GREAT info y'all! I appreciate it. I was thinking of going up this weekend as well, but was wondering about the avy danger. I think I'll strap on my deck and hit Loveland instead! The mountain ain't going anywhere anytime soon.
- I didn't say it was your fault. I said I was blaming you.
User avatar
minnow_30
Posts: 4
Joined: 4/24/2012
14ers: 25 
13ers: 1
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: lower avy risk 14er in the sawatch?

Post by minnow_30 »

I am considering a ski decent on Sherman tomorrow. Does anyone know how this last storm has affected the south face? Also are there any faces that are more prone to Avys?
Post Reply