Day 15: Holy wind affect, Batman!
With wind chills of ~ -25ºF yesterday I stayed home. Last night I watched the westerly wind gusting over 60 mph on Baldy, and a bit less on top of Collins. I went up today expecting that the wind had blown snow from some places and deposited it elsewhere.
What I hadn't realized was that "elsewhere" is somewhere in Wyoming. Last night's westerlies scoured the High T clean of anything resembling snow, leaving a rock-and-ice glacier that was hard enough just to cling to, let alone get through. In the lee of the wind, yes, a lot was deposited on east-facing aspects...but topped with a 3"-thick wind slab, and most places to receive those deposits were closed due to the dangers from the wind loading. First run down High Greeley was hell for me as I went from a supportable slab on top to a punchy crust on the flats in the middle.
After that I stuck to the groomers -- Mambo, Stimulation, Aggie's Alley, etc. -- plus some highly trafficked areas like Race Course, The Saddle, Spring Valley, etc. They were decent but not what I drove up there for. After two hours I'd had enough, and en route home passed Marc_C as he headed up LCC.
I'll wait for tonight and tomorrow's storm instead.
With wind chills of ~ -25ºF yesterday I stayed home. Last night I watched the westerly wind gusting over 60 mph on Baldy, and a bit less on top of Collins. I went up today expecting that the wind had blown snow from some places and deposited it elsewhere.
What I hadn't realized was that "elsewhere" is somewhere in Wyoming. Last night's westerlies scoured the High T clean of anything resembling snow, leaving a rock-and-ice glacier that was hard enough just to cling to, let alone get through. In the lee of the wind, yes, a lot was deposited on east-facing aspects...but topped with a 3"-thick wind slab, and most places to receive those deposits were closed due to the dangers from the wind loading. First run down High Greeley was hell for me as I went from a supportable slab on top to a punchy crust on the flats in the middle.
After that I stuck to the groomers -- Mambo, Stimulation, Aggie's Alley, etc. -- plus some highly trafficked areas like Race Course, The Saddle, Spring Valley, etc. They were decent but not what I drove up there for. After two hours I'd had enough, and en route home passed Marc_C as he headed up LCC.
I'll wait for tonight and tomorrow's storm instead.
/ Getting ready now.
