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2025 Archive Index - All Editions

In This Edition:

Bootpackers tame Aspen avalanche danger

It was days before the mountain opened to skiers, and dozens of bootpackers waited for their work assignment at the mid-mountain ski patrol hut. The motley crew of ski bums and exercise fanatics march up and down the ski area’s steepest slopes in exchange for a discounted season pass. While the ritual sounds like a forced-labor assignment at an alpine gulag, Tefft is one of roughly 100 workers who volunteer to prep the mountain before it opens to the public. Bootpackers have played a crucial role at Highlands for the past 20 years tromping through deep snow to reduce avalanche risk one step at a time.
More ... (Rocky Mountain PBS)

Avy dogs to the rescue

Washington ski resorts tap trained canines and their noses to locate buried victims

CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN RESORT, Wash. — “Are you ready to work?” ski patroller Alisha Bator whispers into the ear of Kio, a mountain rescue dog, at the edge of a meadow near the Forest Queen chairlift at Crystal Mountain Resort. Fresh snow blankets the ground, and somewhere underneath, Bator has buried an article of clothing. But the surface is crisscrossed with ski tracks and shovel prints, so it’s not obvious to the naked eye where the hidden garment is tucked. She rubs Kio’s hindquarters, then commands, “Search!”

The English shepherd takes off, sniffing furiously at the snow. Some 90 seconds later, the 4-year-old dog cocks her ear, then snaps her head. Kio’s picked up a scent. Pawing at the snow, she wrests a ratty sweatshirt out of the hole with her teeth and dutifully returns it to Bator.

The exercise is just another day on the clock for Kio, who has been trained since puppyhood to suss out human scents buried in the snow. In this case, the sweatshirt has spent four days in a fellow patroller’s gear bag, soaking up sweat, skin cells and hair follicles that give the garment a ripe odor — perfect bait for dogs with their refined olfactory prowess.
More ... (Moscow-Pullman Daily News)

Two avalanche forecasters caught in Friday slide

Two US Forest Service (Sawtooth Avalanche Center) forecasters were caught in an avalanche in the Baker Creek area on Friday amid a series of storms that have dropped multiple feet of snow at high elevations in Blaine County and prompted warnings of avalanche danger. The two forecasters were uninjured. They had been ascending a slope when the snowpack gave way. Both forecasters deployed their airbags, and when the avalanche subsided, they were covered in less than a foot of debris.
Source ... (Idaho Mountain Express)

Teton Pass Buried Under 35 Feet of Avalanche Debris

Teton Pass Highway, which connects Jackson, Wyoming, to the Idaho side, is buried beneath avalanche debris after road workers set off a large controlled slide early Monday morning. The Jackson Hole News & Guide reported that the debris is as deep as 35 feet, containing dense, wet snow. The avalanche, part of planned mitigation efforts, was released in a slide path called Glory Bowl, which ends at Highway 22. “This is the biggest slide I’ve seen come out of Glory,” WYDOT avalanche technician Don Lawless told the News & Guide. He added that the avalanche was strong enough to push what looked like a 100-ton boulder into the gully below. WYDOT, in a social media post, estimated that the road will reopen between noon on Monday and 2 p.m. Tuesday, due to the extent of the cleanup.
More ... (Powder)

Avalanche at Wisp Ski Area (Maryland)?

Tuesday, Nov 25, 2008 - Here are some pictures taken last weekend from what is believed to be the first avalanche ever recorded at Wisp Ski Resort. While it's certainly not on the same scale as other avalanches out west it is certainly bizarre to believe that one can happen here in western Maryland of all places. But the weather in Garrett County can be quite different compared to other nearby areas. When it's raining in Pittsburgh or Washington D.C. it's usually snowing here at Deep Creek Lake. Our temperatures usually run 5-8 degrees cooler than neighboring areas. The previous week this area got about 18 inches of natural snowfall and the Wisp was continually making snow because the temperatures never climbed out of the 20's. Don't worry though; there really isn't an avalanche danger at Wisp. This one was probably caused when a large pile of artificial snow broke loose when a few unauthorized backpackers/skiers were taking advantage of the winter like weather. The Wisp does officially open the season this Friday, November 28th.

Source has 3 photos and 1 video
Source ... (Railey Real Estate Blog)