Longer days means a little help from the sun to stabilize our tenuous snowpack in the Front Range, a huge infusion though of much needed snow which means great spring skiing!  Now the settlement begins!

Just back yesterday  from Telluride working with San Juan Outdoor School where I skied and toured with a bunch of fantastic folks taking an AIARE Level 2. Incredible terrain but unfortunately couldn’t ski much of it due to avalanche danger.

Not wanting to push things with the group we opted to play it safe and redirect energy towards managing what we could given the overall objective..which was to learn how to manage and understand the snowpack which in all we agreed more or less challenged all of us.  Not one to always identify “golden eggs” if you will because we had none-within the top 80 CM we had multiple layers of very small interfaces that harbored small facets, all yielding easy results on all test, oddly except the Propagation Saw Test- Many thanks go out to Josh and his excellent guide service in Telluride and the Alta Lakes Observatory…holy cow how beautiful.  “Michael you Rock”!

Avalanche danger pegged up high in the Front Range this week, with most regions on the mountain I routinely guide not accessible until danger begins to diminish. Warming temps are helping that cause no doubt…still on steeper aspects with new wind-loading occurring from a big blow that couple of days has kept us at bay around region. Rock climbing would have been in order yesterday Presidents weekend, but instead I traversed the peak low again to explore possibilities. 17 miles, with an open bivi at 10,500 under normal conditions is no big deal really, but temps dipped on Sunday night to below zero with moderate wind. I had not planned on an open bivouac with my guest, but even the best plans don’t always sort out. Woke Monday to gorgeous skies and cold feet and finished off tour over toward Barr Camp-a cup of warm cocco by inviting host and off to meet the train for the descent. Look for plans this week for our Spearhead Ski Traverse in BC, and upcoming dates for more Spring Skiing traverses and climbs. Watching the Olympics has been fantastic, but hearing commentators complain about weather is like a Bull fighter complaining about a rough ride. Its BC, coastal and wet, and definitely now…to boot NBC put all commentators in down parkas, and anyone who has spent anytime in BC knows that down just doesn’t fly.

New storm snow has planted itself on Pikes Peak in a large and awesome way. Although avalanche danger remains high for now, and will probably for the rest of the week it has been been exciting to be on the mountain while snow has dumped on our surroundings. An AIARE Level 2 this weekend proved a great time to be in the thick of it while sorting out what was exactly happening. Really it wasn’t to hard…easy shears on all test, including CT13X2, Hand shears proved easy on all aspects, Soft Slabs cut loose on steep inclines, and most on rolls over 30 degree’s. We were met on our tour with settling snow, whumphing which always gets one heart pumping. Luckily for us we were able to stay far away from danger and simply observe, dig and test our way through the first 2 days. Snotel at Glen Cove shows as of this AM (02/08) 6 inches new, but know it exceeded that by at least an inch, and its still snowing. Problem of course remains many regions of now newly weighted snow on thick and thin layers of both advanced/large facets but thin problematic interfaces of old wind events that are reacting super easy 50 CM down from top. Height of Snow (HS) in most regions averaged 140 CM, and our study plot at 12,500 has total of 245 CM. I’m personally going to let this one settle down a bit and see what were left with to ski and tour on.

Just wrapped up 2 AIARE Level 1 Avalanche courses. First one in beautiful Whitefish, Montana…holy cow what a great place and even better terrain..loads of snow-not to mention what a difference in snow-pack. Average depth or HS in MT was around 140 CM and coming from CO had a critical eye trying to find the golden egg of danger, and frankly couldn’t. Then I came back to Colorado with an average depth of 120 CM above tree line and found a horror show of snow. All wind affected hard layers stacked on Facets in some cases over 4/5 MM large. Shooting cracks, easy shears on all test proved once again the seriousness of backcountry travel here and why we keep our guard up. It was still beautiful skies though and we had a great/strong group from CC mostly that were up for the challenge of getting higher.

After a fantastic Wilderness First Responder course that ended on Sunday my need to get out and be physical was huge. The north side of Pikes Peak was where we were so I skied home via a new route I’ve never taken completely. I left at 5:30 Sunday night, skied all night until I got to the lower sections of Elk Park or just SE of the valley that leads up to the Bottomless Pit.

It was a gorgeous night, calm conditions and just the right temperature…. cold, yet calm.  I took a 4 hour nap huddled up in a tree well with my summer bag and tarp-which proved a little cold but it was fine-although the temps did drop to 8 degrees, I didn’t really matter to much since I was resting up.  I woke to the sunshine beaming on my bivouac site.  Continuing on I found perfect touring through open glades and trees as I wrapped around heading in a generally S/SE direction, none of which followed a trail, a great part of winter ski mountaineering.  I swung into Barr Camp, had a cup of cocco, and continued down.

The looks I got as I dropped down the trail were funny, I’m sure it must have looked funny, everyone asking the same thing…where the hell were you skiing? Which made me really wonder if folks really know how much terrain exist on our mountain. I was skiing fresh powder in many pockets, stability was fine, which won’t last when we see a storm and endless possibilities. It’s amazing to me when you stop, get off the trail and open you mind to possibilities what you actually see! Jamie

What a fantastic course we’ve had this week here on the beautiful North Side of Pikes Peak. Weather has been cooperative, clear and cold…none of which has slowed our progress down in learning great medicine. Wilderness First Responder training has come a long way from my first medical training as a guide some 20 years ago, and many things remain the same.

This course has been unique in that the students all from Colorado College have dove in head first, remained thorough and eager to learn so much great material. That along with the expert delivery of curriculum created by Katabatic Mountain School and taught by incredibly experienced instructors we’ve made this  incredibly successful. I’ve personally had training as Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness First aid, Wilderness EMT-I, and several recerts, none of which has exceeded this week!

What a brilliant day.  Sunny and Blue skies were dreamy.  Good snow to be had on North side near upper Crags region, had to work to get it above 12.200.    Problem is, snow is  still touch and go, settling, shooting cracks the works, so we remained conservative with what we skied.  Skinning tracks all over the place, no real rhyme or reason to the track-setting, but nonetheless all good snow-except the rocks coming through the trail out…I think I’ll postpone a bit for a wee bit more snow!

Hulley Gulley was so quiet this afternoon, so Ade and I managed to get in some second shift climbing.  Topped out at sunset, pulled over onto Gold Camp and lights of town were brilliant, with a whaning moon…oh so pretty.

Oh it was touch and go today with avalanche danger on the Peak.  Danger rating today came in this AM at HIGH so I had to go investigate and see for myself what the wind had done to all our snow.  So with a solid plan to keep the tour conservative, I ventured up well above 12,000 feet to scope things out.  A little report on what was found.

A sizable natural slide  (HS/R1.5/D1.5) near the Rock Gardens fractured 200 feet across and ran around 600 feet.  It’s no surprise given the wind events we had over the last week following the new snow from last week.  It’s amazing to me how bony conditions were, I was caught off guard by the lack of snow in that bowl/region, but that is a small area with much settlement occurring from wind deposition.  Over all conditions are HIGH above tree line and considerable at tree line and below.  Dug a hole, scoped out snow and found no surprises since it’s shallow and cold…Facets at ground level were well formed near rocks and anything protruding.  Overall I had little confidence in what I saw, not to mention the token Wind Slab 20 CM down.  HS was 95 CM, with no new storm snow to speak of.  Three test performed were CT all Q1 at 21, and most hand shears on tour up yield little confidence in anything.  Many shooting cracks and settling.

So the question is “why go” when conditions warrant instability?  Well it’s been a few weeks since I last went out on the peak, and had little to no baseline of knowledge, besides hunches,  so as I mentioned I keep things conservative, had a great tour with John and Preston.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Oh yes, our blog and it’s ability to share the details of our comings and goings.  I’m only happy to share some of the last year with all of you that have climbed or skied with us here at the school.  Last time I did this I was on expeditions posting from an over sized lap-top trying to send things out with passing satellite signals, and not spilling hot drinks on myself, my how times have changed.  Seems as if we’ve all got our thousand and one ways to communicate anymore, yet we don’t really face to face so much.  I for one encourage you all to try a day trip with me or several and learn some great skills and techniques that can truly enhance your climbing or skiing skills.

First some news. I’ m going to share conditions on the peak as I get them, so if you want more detailed snow pack analysis please call me and I”ll be happy to pass on what I find. Overall conditions are prime for both hard and soft slab formation, all potentially naturally released and certainly skier triggered.  Wind events coupled with new snow have loaded  new weight to already heavily decomposed and wind affected grains.  Near rock outcrops and islands of shallower snow have large concentrations of Faceted grains that are sizable and well formed.

After a couple of years off running an avalanche program in Alaska I’m back in the Springs full time guiding and looking after the business, what a treat it’s been.  Since April I’ve managed a busy schedule staying active on the rock, ice and now snow.  International trips I’ve not led except some personal trips to Canada and Europe while I scoped new and old favorites I can’t stay away from.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you have any conditions to report or simply want to chat things up on what’s new.  As always I’m open to ideas and suggestions.

For now stay safe and check back soon for more information. Also if you have not already done so, sign-up for our newsletter and stay on top of current events and future expeditions we will be offering this spring and summer.

Jamie Pierce