With the incoming storm looming, Ark Valley Voice spoke with Avalanche Forecaster Spencer Logan of the Colorado Information Center to learn about potential avalanche impacts in the Sawatch range.
“For the mountains and particularly the Sawatch range we are looking at an ordinary kind of winter storm. The really extraordinary or dramatic impacts are going to be at a much lower elevation,” said Logan.
In regard to Monarch and Poncha Pass Logan explained “We’re certainly concerned but the concern isn’t out of the ordinary. It looks like we’re going to have snow falling rapidly, particularly Saturday afternoon in the Sawatch. That rapid snowfall is going to increase the avalanche danger. Conditions could be changing pretty fast on Saturday and then again on Sunday. We’re expecting conditions to become more dangerous. They may become pretty challenging by the end of the weekend but it’s an ordinary dangerous situation.”
CDOT avalanche work on Monarch Pass. Photo courtesy of CDOT.
The avalanche center has two parallel programs, Backcountry Avalanche forecasting as well as working with CDOT for highway forecasts.
Logan explained, “Anytime we have snow, our forecasters are paying attention to the impacts on the highway but that’s working in conjunction with CDOT to make sure the traveling public is safe.” For those who plan to travel, it is advised to check road conditions before leaving home. If there is high-risk for avalanches on highways, CDOT will close the road as a preventative measure.
“When we are looking at avalanches on highways, the department of transportation is doing things like closing roads. Avalanches to a road are pretty unusual particularly ones that are big enough to cause lots of problems for people,” he said
“If the road is open it’s pretty safe to travel on. If a ski run is open the ski patrol has taken the appropriate precautions to open it safely. It becomes a different issue when you go into the backcountry because then you get to make the decisions about what’s safe and what’s not.”
Logan added “Anytime you’re going into the backcountry it’s important to check the avalanche forecast. You can get the latest forecasts at Colorado.gov/avalanche and make sure that you have the skills and experience to travel safely in the backcountry on that day.”
Avalanches do not read avalanche expert analysis and warning sites, reports or any other human beliefs about safety and predictability! Most dead victims were supposed experts or very experienced backcountry skiers. Duh! Has anyone ever beat and bought the house in casino land? Hell no, it’s a rigged game and avalanche wins in the end. Roll the dice enough times and it comes up snake eyes. We have had many years of mostly warm falls with early snows that form depth hoar on the ground which means that the entire winter snowfall is lying on a layer of ball bearings that break loose and slide all the way to the ground.
If you don’t dig your pits all the way to the ground you know nothing. That’s the big issue. Don’t even get started on factors like slope angle, sun angle, wind deposition, terrain features, temp variability through the layers…. your an idiot to go out anywhere the area has slid before. Stick to slopes less than 30 degrees and controlled areas ie ski areas and if that’s not exciting enough just put a bullet in your revolver spin the cartridge and pull the trigger. At least others won’t endanger or kill themselves trying to save or find your
Frozen face screaming like a howler monkey!