Share Useful Websites

[Eli Boardman]

So along my 14er journey, I have discovered quite a few useful websites for many aspects of climbing and hiking in Colorado, but especially for weather. I thought it would be worth making a thread to share the websites I use when planning Colorado backcountry trips, and I hope that others can add their favorite sites so that maybe we all can learn something. Additionally, I will have this as a reference to hopefully direct people to if they have questions about forecasting in the Colorado mountains.

In this first post, I want to focus on just weather-related sites.

Windy (formerly Windty): offers a beautiful and interactive weather map and forecast showing snow levels, predicted future snow / rain, predicted clouds at different altitudes, wind gusts, and much more. It is especially helpful for quickly comparing areas of the state (or world).

http://www.windy.com

Mountain Forecast: offers 6-day a.m., p.m., and night forecasts for tons of specific mountains at different elevations including the summit elevation. It is especially helpful for ballpark estimates on wind, temperature, and snow / rain accumulation.

http://www.mountain-forecast.com

National Weather Service Hourly Forecast: offers incredibly detailed forecasts for any point (the link below is for Elbert; simply scroll the map on the right and click a point to get the weather for that location). It is especially useful for accurately predicting cloud cover, thunderstorms, wind, and wind gusts throughout a day. To use it, first find your peak on the map, click on it, then click on "Hourly Forecast" near the bottom of the page. You should see some graphs showing % sky cover and % precipitation potential among other things. There's a menu that lets you look up to 5 days out, too.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.ph ... ujwtXSQzuq

Colorado Avalanche Information Center: offers exactly what you would assume from the name. Basically, they provide daily updates on avalanche danger for backcountry zones in the winter as well as general updates in the spring.

http://avalanche.state.co.us

NRCS Snow Map: offers the raw data from SNOTEL stations around the US. This lets you know how much snow there is in specific locations, such as South Colony at 10.8k, which currently has 3 inches of snow. To see the current snow depths, click "snow depth," "value," and "go to now" on the panel on the right of the screen.

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/webmap/

SNOTEL Watershed Graphs: offers an overview of what the current snow pack looks like in comparison to past years. Simply select the basin you're interested in, and you can compare the year's snow pack to previous years as well as the mean / median. For example, this year the southern basins are much drier than average, comparable to a median snow pack for late May.

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrc ... 4p2_063323

Colorado Webcams: this page is just a set of links to webcams around the state. They show current conditions so you can judge snow levels / etc. for yourself. The Crestone, Eisenhower Tunnel, Leadville, Pikes Peak, Salida, and Telluride webcams are particularly useful in my opinion. If nothing else, it's entertaining to hop around the state.

http://www.keno.org/colorado_web_cams/colorado_cams.htm

[Eli Boardman]

And now, for some non-weather-related sites.

CalTopo: offers an absolutely amazing amount of functionality. It has free 7.5-minute topo maps of any size, meaning you don't have to buy topos that have edges in annoying places. It has slope angle shading, an essential tool for planning routes around potential avalanche areas. It has a "Map Builder Topo" option where you can build gpx or kml tracks that automatically follow trails and roads. (To do this, click "add," "add line," then yellow lines will appear where trails and roads exist. Click once on the yellow, and then the click again on a yellow line farther away. CalTopo will automatically build a track following the trails between the points you click. You can later export this to Google Earth or a gps.) The Sun Exposure and Viewshed Analysis features are fun, too.

http://www.caltopo.com

SummitPost: offers a somewhat eclectic compilation of information on the world's ranges, peaks, routes, trip reports, etc. I find that it is most useful for slightly less well-known peaks in the U.S. and popular peaks in other countries.

http://www.summitpost.org

Mountain Project: offers a very extensive database of technical routes around the world, including on Colorado peaks.

http://www.mountainproject.com

Peakbagger: offers a free place to track your ascents of all mountains. If the database doesn't have a mountain in it, it's easy to add one. Once you track your ascents, it provides cool statistics and personal lists such as "progressive most prominent peak climbed."

http://www.peakbagger.com/

Lists of John: offers a wonderfully complete place to track ascents of mountains in the United States as well as lots of other features. A free login lets you track ascents, while a paid login ($20 per year) gains much more functionality. John Kirk (the site operator) says that it has every single ranked peak in the United States. With the paid membership, you can create custom lists (such as "all peaks above 12k with at least 280 feet of prominence in Wyoming") and export those peaks as a gpx file that will show those peaks as waypoints in Google Earth or a gps.

http://www.listsofjohn.com

So, let's hear what other mountain websites you guys use! Let's keep this free of guide services and individual blogs.

[jaymz]

Good ones listed already!
Here's one that may be helpful if you're heading to the IPW - live interactive cam on Niwot Ridge.
http://instaar.colorado.edu/tundracam/view.php

[TravelingMatt]

WRCC Climate Maps https://wrcc.dri.edu/

Statewide Streamflow Data https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=co

NRCS Daily Western Snow Data https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/gis/snow.html
... usually I'm looking at https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/gi ... update.png

Colorado Basin River Forecast Center https://www.cbrfc.noaa.gov/

Major Western Lake Levels (decent interface for historical data) http://lakepowell.water-data.com/

Ridgwaycam http://ouraynet.com/ridgway_large.jpg

Ouraycam http://ouraynet.com/blowout_large.jpg

Telluride Webcams http://www.tellurideskiresort.com/the-m ... live-cams/

Breckenridge Snow Cam https://www.breckenridge.com/the-mounta ... -cams.aspx

Loveland Webcams http://skiloveland.com/webcams/

[TravelingMatt]

Let's keep this free of guide services and individual blogs.

Actually, let's include them if they're good.

https://www.climb13ers.com/colorado-13ers/
http://www.13ergirl.com/
https://www.exploringtherockies.com/

[christian349]

https://www.cairnme.com/

Provides live updates of your location on hikes that can be sent to loved ones like a poor man's SPOT. You can also see reports from others on whether an area has coverage or not to send said location updates. Obviously not as reliable or functional as a true SPOT tracker, but it certainly better than nothing and it is free.

[seano]

http://www.windy.com

Another great thing about Windy is it offers point forecasts from the European model (ECMWF), which is higher-resolution and often better than GFS, and Meteoblue's NEMS, which is focused on mountain forecasts. Also, you can compare the models side-by-side to get a sense of how confident you should be about the forecast.

http://www.peakbagger.com/

If you have a smartphone, download the Peakbagger app. It makes it easy to download relevant maps (USGS quads and even many non-US maps) for offline use. It also provides a map of peaks near your location, which is helpful when you're e.g. driving through an unfamiliar area and want to break up the drive with a quick hike.

Also, while you said "no guide services or personal blogs," Bob Burd's site (http://snwburd.com/bob/) is both good reading and an invaluable guide to more or less every peak and peaklet in California. Here's one of my favorite "Bob stories."

[CHWitte]

Some helpful trip reports from Colorado 14ers both summer and winter. Also, some ideas for other hikes around the country.

http://www.wildernesswanderings.net/

[chicagostylehotdog]

OpenSnow: A great snow-focused weather forecasting service with daily discussions on snow for mountain states/regions and some more specific reports on resorts. Forecast posts are complete with graphs and maps, which the forecasters often explain how to read. The founder, Joel Gratz, also has OpenSummit which is his 14er-centric summer weather forecasting app. Joel occasionally gives lectures on snow forecasting, which I highly recommend.

[Conor]

Steph Abegg's website is great. I appreciate her topos. She also compiles some cool information, like her recent cam comparison charts.

http://www.stephabegg.com/

[Matt]

I can't recall a thread like this in years, if ever. Great idea! A few come to mind that have not been mentioned yet:
This one's especially helpful this time of year to know if you can drive over a pass: http://www.bushducks.com/tripreps/passopen.htm
https://traildamage.com/ provides both general descriptions and trip reports of 4x4 roads, and not just here in CO.

Bob Burd's site (http://snwburd.com/bob/) is both good reading and an invaluable guide to more or less every peak and peaklet in California. Here's one of my favorite "Bob stories."

Agreed. Bob Burd's not as well known in Colorado circles, but geez, the guy is accomplished!
However, G Roach has a little name recognition around here and I've enjoyed his site for years, especially finding cool desert peaks: http://climb.mountains.com/
Prominence Geeks Rejoice: http://peaklist.org/

[dpage]

For Rocky Mountain National Park, Andrew Rose has provided a ton of information on this site:

http://www.hikingrmnp.org

He's visited every named lake and waterfall in the park and only has 2 ranked peaks left in the park.