2011/12 Snowy Range snow conditions

[tmk50]

Just got back from a 2 days of riding in the horns. Stayed at bear lodge again. nice place and food was good. best snow we found was in the area of the weather ball or around wyoming high country resort. fiberglass hill was icing up this morning and the sun beat on it pretty hard this afternoon. probably got slick at the top. a lot of rocks. you are going to hit some pretty hard even a slow speed. best spots were blowed in snow that had no base as long as we missed the landmines. but it was way better than staying home and we had a lot of fun. nothing bent so it was a good couple of days.

Nice report - this is the Snowy Range thread though

I rode the snowy's yesterday - 41 break in miles, saw two big bull moose on the trail - so watch out! There isn't enough snow up there yet to push all the wildlife down yet. Hopefully this next storm will fix that.

 

[Ritfire73]

Yea, had a good time, good guys to ride with...

Ok, I was on the white summit

 

[owenb2]

I have some exciting news to share-

It's Snowing!!!!!!.


Pray it drops alot!

 

[97exc]

I rode the snowy's yesterday - 41 break in miles, saw two big bull moose on the trail - so watch out! There isn't enough snow up there yet to push all the wildlife down yet. Hopefully this next storm will fix that.

I'm heading up tomorrow, where did you ride? I plan on leaving out of Albany and just checking things out.

 

[dansyl159]

I have some exciting news to share-

It's Snowing!!!!!!.


Pray it drops alot!

Dammit man, don't shout, you'll scare it off. We had a skiff over on this side this morning then cleared off this afternoon, the mtn was in the clouds all day though. Believe we're going up tomorrow, have a look see what mother nature has brought us for Xmas.

 

[tmk50]

I'm heading up tomorrow, where did you ride? I plan on leaving out of Albany and just checking things out.

We rode out of Albany - we hit some of the forest service roads - watch for downed trees. The main trails were in great shape - it looks like they have all the downed trees taken care of where they are grooming.

Let us know how it is, hopefully you will have a foot of fresh to keep your slides cool

 

[shelbwyo]

Just got back from a 2 days of riding in the horns. Stayed at bear lodge again. nice place and food was good. best snow we found was in the area of the weather ball or around wyoming high country resort. fiberglass hill was icing up this morning and the sun beat on it pretty hard this afternoon. probably got slick at the top. a lot of rocks. you are going to hit some pretty hard even a slow speed. best spots were blowed in snow that had no base as long as we missed the landmines. but it was way better than staying home and we had a lot of fun. nothing bent so it was a good couple of days.

Post this in the bighorns thread, there are lots of people that would like to hear how your trip was.

 

[zoombyu]

Hows the Snow in the Snowies? Did they get snow last night/yesterday? Leaving on Monday for the Snowies, please post any snow reports you can. It will be greatly appreciated.

 

[newmy1]

Albany is saying a foot of fresh, more up top.

 

[yardfarmer]

http://dayweather.com/keystone/weathertext.html

 

[Lander]

Casper Mtn. had well over 2 feet of snow when I went up this morning, I can't remember the last time we had snow like this. The Snotel at Sand Lake (Northern Snowies) was showing 13" so I'm sure the riding is as good there. I will be in Encampment over the weekend so I'm hoping to see how it is on both ends of the range.
​

 

[HappyJack]

HOLIDAY AVY FORECAST

Backcountry Avalanche Forecast for Front Range

Issued: 12/22/2011 6:24 AM by Brian Lazar

Highlights

Last night's storm brought slightly better than expected snow to the Front Range zone. Areas west of the Continental Divide picked up 3 to 6 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours, and 6 to 12 inches for areas on the east side. East to northeasterly winds increased as the snow fell. You can expect fresh wind slabs on all wind-loaded slopes. Avalanche danger is on the rise today.

Avalanche Danger

The avalanche danger for the Front Range zone is CONSIDERABLE (Level 3) on south through west to northwest aspects near and above treeline. The danger is MODERATE (Level 2) on all other aspects near and above treeline. The danger is LOW (Level 1) on all aspects below treeline because the snowpack is still very thin and buried obstacles remain the greatest concern.

Snow & Avalanche Discussion

The storm that began yesterday and intensified overnight has increased the avalanche danger for the Front Range zone today. The increase in danger is most pronounced east of the Continental Divide and for the northern portions of the zone, which received the greatest snowfall. Some snow totals from the last 24 hours include:
•Loveland Basin and Loveland Pass 3 to 4 inches
•Berthoud Pass 6 inches
•Eldora 10 inches
•Rocky Mountain National Park 9 to 10 inches
•Cameron Pass 9 inches

Moderate to strong east to northeasterly winds picked up as the snowfall intensified overnight. You can expect fresh soft wind slabs about 2 feet thick on south through west to northwest aspects near and above treeline. Triggering this type of avalanche is the primary avalanche concern today. The avalanches will generally be small, but the problem is widespread. These slabs will be easy to trigger as they are forming on top of faceted grains and widespread surface hoar.

Another avalanche concern are storm slabs that likely exist on all aspects near and above treeline. This problem is most pronounced in areas with the greatest storm totals where the storm slabs will be about a foot thick. They will be thinner west of the Continental Divide and south of Berthoud Pass, but will still be present. You will be able to trigger small avalanches in the storm snow today on most slopes steeper than 35 degrees. Small does not mean inconsequential, so pay attention to the consequences of even a short ride.

There are still pockets of harder slab sandwiched between layers of facets. These slabs exist primarily on northwest through northeast to southeast aspects near and above treeline. Should a slab release, it's likely to fail to the ground and take all the weak underlying faceted snow with it. You're mostly likely to trigger these hard slabs along the margins where the slab thins out.

 

[dansyl159]

Ok, here we go. Woke up to about 8" here at the house. Trailering up to Greenrock it tapered off some. By the time we got to Marie it was MAYBE 2", damn disappointing. Went around back in the meadows between Queally and the mtn 'bout 6 to 8" new. Was going to head up toward Sand Lake, but fubared a right hand A-arm Standing there looking at it I could feel my wallet slipping out of my bibs and my credit card flying off to Laramie

 

[tmk50]

Ok, here we go. Woke up to about 8" here at the house. Trailering up to Greenrock it tapered off some. By the time we got to Marie it was MAYBE 2", damn disappointing. Went around back in the meadows between Queally and the mtn 'bout 6 to 8" new. Was going to head up toward Sand Lake, but fubared a right hand A-arm Standing there looking at it I could feel my wallet slipping out of my bibs and my credit card flying off to Laramie

Sorry to hear about your damage - that sucks. It makes sense that the snow was better on the east side since this was an upslope storm again. I guess now we wait to see what the Wednesday storm does for the west side.....

 

[ultra51684]

We are heading up to the snowies on the 30th. If anyone would like to meet up, I think it would be fun to meet some of you on here. We have 6 of us going up. Let me know.

 

[dansyl159]

Tony, we need to get Owenb and a couple of others together to figure out WTF we're doing wrong on our snowdances. I must have lost a move or two from the last few years

 

[newmy1]

No doubt Dan get your chit together


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[owenb2]

Tony, we need to get Owenb and a couple of others together to figure out WTF we're doing wrong on our snowdances. I must have lost a move or two from the last few years

I know. Im trying to remember the steps from last year, my dance was awesome!

 

[tmk50]

Tony, we need to get Owenb and a couple of others together to figure out WTF we're doing wrong on our snowdances. I must have lost a move or two from the last few years

I've been trying every move I can think of!

I did some youtube searches, maybe this one would work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFYjY1xW9zw&feature=related

 

[97exc]

Rode out of Albany today, was actually really fun even though we played it safe and stayed mostly on the trails. We were able to make fresh tracks in bumper deep new snow all day on most of the trails, some of the drifts on the sides were 2-3 feet deep. I would guess there was anywhere from 8-16" of new snow on average. Still need to be cautious off trail, I could feel a lot of stuff underneath that I didn't see due to the fresh cover.