by Gunnibronco » Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:39 am
Colorado powder is lighter, but doesn't stick to steep slopes, and is much more dangerous. Most of the time we were only boot to knee deep. If we were riding snow like that in Colorado, we would have been eyeball deep & needed snorkels. But that kind of terrain and snow is not rideable here.
Intercontinental snowpacks (Colorado) are shallower and develop more problems that lead to worse avalanche danger. I took an avalanche class in 1998, and they opened the class by stating that we live in "the most dangerous" area in the world. The Silverton Avalanche School is the oldest in America, and has some of the most highly respected guys in the industry teaching.
Maritime snowpacks (Cali, AK, BC) are usually safer because of the increased depth of the snowpack, more moisture, warmer temps, and less solar radiation exposure (it gets too complicated to explain, and I don't even understand/remember everything I learned back then). So it opens up more backcountry options.
Generally, we have to wait till spring, for the snowpack to get safe enough to ride steep lines. The warm temps in spring help all the layers in the snowpack to melt together, and form one big/deep layer, instead of multiple layers & sliding surfaces that lead to avalanches. Then in spring, you have to worry about wet slides, when the snow just melts into a big slushie and falls off the mountain. A huge wet slide, near Silverton, just killed a Crested Butte local, about a week ago.
This ends your unexpected, probably unwanted, avalanche class for today.
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