Revelation Bowl & Avalanche

Telluride sits in the northern San Juan Mountains—a part of the Rockies notorious for its unstable snowpack.

A big, ugly beast of a natural avalanche put an exclamation mark on that this week.

Here’s a photo of the slide as seen from Telluride’s Revelation Bowl.

The slide was on a westerly aspect above Bear Creek Canyon, which is basically the exit point for all the lift-accessed backcountry skiing at Telluride. As far as I could tell this was a natural slide that did not involve any skiers. You can’t see it in this photo, but there is a roughly 4′ high crown at the start, stepping down to up to 10′ crowns below the cliff bands. A sobering reminder of what a truly reactive snowpack looks like—and what it can do.

Lots of fresh snow here in Telluride, Colorado, where I’m taking a little lift-served vacation. Video is helmet cam footage from the ContourHD 1080p. I upgraded from the 720p ContourHD to check out the new model. Interestingly, after a week of testing the camera, I decided I like the 720p better. There’s just too much shutter roll in the 1080p mode (you can see that here as distortion in the treetops whenever I hit a bump). Additionally, the 1080 mode uses a narrower view angle, which increases the effects of camera shake. I’ll get a full review of the 1080p ContourHD up in the next week or so.

Ah, where to begin? In the immortal words of Tech and Talk’s Chad, ‘A bad snake charmer always blames his snake.’ So I guess I can’t blame the snake. I knew, going in, that a ski traverse linking Mount Baldy and Iron Mountain via San Antonio Ridge was definitely pushing the limits. But still, something about staying close to home always makes me more inclined to be ambitious (more…)

Following up on my post about my reluctance to take an avalanche course, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about what finally motivated me to bite the bullet and go take one. For starters, the opportunity presented itself. I had the money saved up, and I had some free time which coincided with dates that SMG was offering a Level I class. Also important given the past few winters, there was ‘interesting’ snow in the Sierra, with a big storm on the way. Conditions were good—who wants to take an avalanche class when the mountains are bare or boring? (more…)

The Civilian Corps Shelter

Maybe one of the things to remember an an El Nino year is that the storms love to ambush the Southland. I don’t think anyone was expecting the rain intensity we saw Friday through Saturday morning. I certainly wasn’t.

Saturday I drove to Palm Springs, figuring the tram would get me to snow with the least amount of winter driving. That was true in only the most technical sense: the drive itself proved to be the day’s biggest adventure, with rainfall between the 15 and 215 freeways on the 10 truly entering the awesome and frightening range. In hindsight, it would have been a good day to stay home (more…)

Local climber and so-so skier Hamik Mukelyan is organizing an informal ski mountaineering race Sunday, February 21 (weather-depending), at Mount Baldy’s southeast bowl. Meet time is 10 a.m. at the ski hut. Course details are slim, but the route will be marked with wands, and Hamik expects 10-15 competitors. No sign up necessary: just appear on time at the hut, and you’re in. Prizes are limited to the personal satisfaction of crushing your competitors, or whatever other metric you choose. This sounds like a lot of a fun. I’ll be away on ski safari that week, but otherwise I’d definitely give it a go…though my current toddler-based training regimen leaves something to be desired.

Jeff Pierce will be teaching two Level I avalanche classes and a Level II this February and March in Southern California. The schedules are:

Level I — Claremont

• Classroom Session: Feb 16 and 18 (6:00-10pm in Claremont)
• Field Sessions: Feb 20 and 21st (8:00am to 4:00pm Mt. Baldy)
• $150

Level I — Snow Summit

• Classroom Session: March 7th at the patrol media room (8:00 – 4:00pm)
• Field Sessions: March 13 and 14th (Snow Summit Area (8:00-4:00pm)
• $150

Level II (TBA)

• Classroom Sessions will begin weekdays at the end of February (Claremont)
• Field Sessions will be in March (Mt. Baldy Area)
• Four Classroom Sessions (Tues and Thursday 6:00 – 10PM)
• Four Field Sessions
• $225

This is a terrific year to get out there for an avalanche class, as we’ve got abundant snow in mountains both near and far. For SoCal skiers, one big advantage of taking a class locally (in my opinion) is that you’re working directly with the snowpack you’re most likely to be skiing. Also, obviously, it makes fitting the class into your schedule quite a lot easier. And odds are good you’ll meet like-minded folks who’ll make good backcountry partners down the road.

Jeff’s courses are not AIARE-certified, but they are a tremendous bargain (especially that Level II class). Jeff has been teaching Level I and II avalanche courses for 11 years, and he has over 23 years experience in the field, including consulting for local resorts and government agencies as well as doing control at Mount Waterman and June Mountain ski areas. I attended one of Jeff’s avalanche seminars for rescue professionals last year; it was well-run, and well worth the time. If you’re on the fence about taking a class, this is a great opportunity. I highly recommend taking advantage of it.

For more info or to sign up, contact Jeff Pierce.

The Problem with Telegraph Peak is that it’s way too easy to access. The typical San Gabriel Mountain approach serves as a fine gatekeeper to most of the range’s technical adventures, but not so with Telegraph. This little shark tooth of a peak sits just beyond the rope of a popular (if quirky) Southern California ski area, and when there’s snow on it you can practically hear the siren song calling.

Among the considerable hazards Telegraph offers, rockfall is one of the more prominent. The north face is a shooting gallery of rocks of all sizes. Even here, only a few days after fresh snow, the apron beneath the north chutes is already coated in rocks and shards. Telegraph Peak is also very steep, likely in the 45° range, and like many aspects in the San Gabriels, the snow can be exceedingly icy. A fall would be consequential.

Avalanches of all types are a threat here as well—in fact, the gully below the north face is a classic terrain trap threatened by virtually 360 degrees of slope aspects. Just to mention one more potential hazard (this list is by no means exhaustive), when you ski Telegraph Peak you must climb back up to return to the safety of the ski area, and this climb is sure to test your resolve (as well as your preparedness). For more on that subject (and the cruel, cruel topography), see my trip report into the neighboring Stockton Flats area.

Giving Vimeo a try here for the video hosting. Looks like the quality might be a little higher. If you play the video in HD, be sure to expand to full screen.