Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Weather review

okay, i have to admit , i have not been skiing since saturday, when the weather took a turn for the worse. i know there have still been some pretty good wet powder turns to be made, but i have not made them. mostly i have been busy moving snow and hanging on a rope knocking out blocks of ice off tall roofs near the mountain, to keep owners and renters safe.

yet again, another poorly designed roof in snow country, all for the name of asthetics. i guess, when people are willing to pay for underground, outdoor heating to keep their driveways clear, a few hundred dollars a week for ground and roof snow removal is of no concern.

temperatures are cooling and the skiing up high should be good, but below maybe 6000' might be crust o'rama. not sure about the backcountry, but perhaps some colder temps will give snowpacks time to bond and stabilize.

i have not been on a rant much at all this year, but here we go. last night i went to an event sponsored by Glacier Country Avalanche Center and the USFS. Stan Bones gave a 2 and 1/2 hour weather presentation that for the most part was good, but for someone who gets paid to do avalanche forecasts,study and summarize weather concerning snow conditions, and in general, be a liasson to the public, he sure said "I don't know" a lot. i mean, come on stan, you should have a far better understanding of the "el nino" and "la nina" effects. the public is not expecting a climate specialist, but a generalization of where these effects begin, and why and how they affect weather patterns. perhaps a panel discussion would be a better forum, so there might be people to answer questions he does not know.

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