High winds

[Scott P]

Chris Tomer shared this on FB:

139306034_3938654196147512_1118111808604356666_n.jpg (23.54 KiB) Viewed 3659 times

Check out the winds on Peak 6 early this morning. The 13 and 14ers were likely windier too.

[Chicago Transplant]

Fox 31 is entertaining. Does this ever effect resort skiing?

Yes, they will shut lifts down if the winds are too high and dangerous. Especially areas where the lift is more exposed to the wind, i.e. Vail Back Bowls or lifts that run about treeline like some of the lifts at Loveland, Copper, Breck, etc.

Also if the wind loading pushes their avalanche danger too high they close terrain to mitigate.

[JChitwood]

Fox 31 is entertaining. Does this ever effect resort skiing?

Does The Captain really think that severe winds don’t affect a ski area?

[nsaladin]

Fox 31 is entertaining. Does this ever effect resort skiing?

Does The Captain really think that severe winds don’t affect a ski area?

He looks down on resort skiers, from the high peaks above... I recall him pleading for Blazintoes to teach him how to ski, and apparently he skipped the bunny hill and resort and is doing first descents in the Chugach.

[bergsteigen]

Ski resorts can be dangerous below tree line too.

[SkaredShtles]

Apparently they stopped some TRAINS in WY due to the high winds.

[Tornadoman]

Apparently they stopped some TRAINS in WY due to the high winds.

Each train type has 'wind ratings' which engineers come up with based on weight/load/car type, etc. Empty double stacked train cars are rated for a much lower wind speed than heavy single stack cars. Coal cars are among the most difficult to be blown over. Ratings to slow down/stop a train might vary from 50ish mph wind gusts to well over 90 mph depending on the above. Union Pacific track between Laramie and Cheyenne Wyoming is notorious for high winds and that area often has to stop trains. I used to work in the weather business and would talk to the conductors who were held up due to high winds, I don't think the conductors from Southeast Wyoming liked me very much as I gave them a lot of bad news.

Also nice avatar!

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>
Also nice avatar!

[ltlFish99]

Fox 31 is entertaining. Does this ever effect resort skiing?

Does The Captain really think that severe winds don’t affect a ski area?

A friend and I were st keystone once when they stopped running some lifts due to high winds.
It did not help us much as we were still on the chairs. Fortunately, we only had to sit there for about 20 minutes then they started them up again.
This seems obvious, the upper lifts at a-basin shut down one afternoon because of lightning.
Of course, that place has a lot of high exposed terrain.

[nyker]

Around here, we had a storm with high winds right before the recent snow. I was planning to hit a peak the next morning, then opted not to.
Heard these coming down during the night. It was scary listening to the creaking and cracking as they came down in the dark.
The winds topped out at about 70mph the weather reports said, these were decent sized trees.

[greenonion]

Apparently they stopped some TRAINS in WY due to the high winds.

Each train type has 'wind ratings' which engineers come up with based on weight/load/car type, etc. Empty double stacked train cars are rated for a much lower wind speed than heavy single stack cars. Coal cars are among the most difficult to be blown over. Ratings to slow down/stop a train might vary from 50ish mph wind gusts to well over 90 mph depending on the above. Union Pacific track between Laramie and Cheyenne Wyoming is notorious for high winds and that area often has to stop trains. I used to work in the weather business and would talk to the conductors who were held up due to high winds, I don't think the conductors from Southeast Wyoming liked me very much as I gave them a lot of bad news.

Also nice avatar!

That state name has been changed to "Windoming."

[Cygnus X1]

I was almost hucked off Elbert today.. Crazy sort of jet stream winds I haven’t experienced before. Had to turn around at 13k after nearly being blown off the switchbacks

A group of us had planned to go up yesterday and camp at treeline, then summit today and pack back out. On Friday we made the call to postpone due to the forecasted winds. Sounds like we made the right call.