Waiting....Is the Hardest Part

Sunday afternoon brought warm temps and clear skies to the valley, so I headed out with my buddy Todd to see what kind of shape Highlands Bowl was in. On Saturday, the wind had topped over 100 mph above 11,000 feet, effectively bringing all four local resorts to their knees and stopping the chair lifts. And just in time for President's Day weekend, too!

When wind blows that hard, you can get some prettty interesting snow conditions, particularly above treeline. In places where an abrupt ridge divides two slopes, the windward side can be litterally stripped bare of all snow, as snow can be transported at any wind speed in excess of 25 mph. Of course, all that snow has to go somewhere, and it usually winds up on the leeward side.

While this type of "wind loading" can make for great skiing, it also makes for higher avalanche risk, as the heavy wind slab can rest precariously on weaker snow layers from earlier in the season, needing only a natural or human trigger to slide.

In a place like Highlands Bowl, avalanche control is all part of a day's work. Typically, there are two ways ski patrol will "control" a potentially dangerous area. The more simple technique is called "ski cutting," in which a patroller will ski directly across a wind loaded slope, testing to see if the pressure of the skis is enough to trigger an avalanche. They will go from safe zone to safe zone, back and forth across an avalanche path, testing it's strength until they reach the bottom.

The second, and much cooler technique to witness, is the use of explosives to give slopes that are ready to slide that extra nudge before a skier has the chance to do so. Patrollers throw charges into dangerous areas from a safe zone, and the explosives do their thing. If it causes a slide, great. If it doesn't, it means a person likely can't either.

The morning after a big storm or windy night, you can hear the echo of avalanche explosives throughout the valley. Normally, however, you can't see the control work because the higher peaks are shrouded in clouds.

On Sunday, however, Todd and I were waiting at the main gate to the bowl (see my link to the different stages of the bowl here) for the patrollers to open the ridge. With the cloudless skies, we had a once-in-a-season opportunity to take in the control work with an unobstructed view.

Click on the above video, and be patient. At the 17 second mark, you will see a plume of smoke rise from the center of the screen, followed by a loud explosion. On this occasion, the charge is not enought to cause an avalanche. Sunday, with the wind loading as bad as it was, we personally saw the patrol drop over 50 charges throughout the bowl. Not one was enough to cause a slide, which mean's it's safe enough to ski.

After a long wait, the rope was dropped, and Todd and I headed to the line we had picked out from our observation point at the main gate.

The dark red line is a chute called "Ballroom." It was one of the few areas of the bowl that appeared to have nice snow top to bottom. It runs about 45 degrees steep, and is relatively narrow with rock walls on both sides, which means it tends to hold great snow after a storm or windy day.

After about thirty minutes of hiking, we reached the top and dropped in. Todd was kind enough to set up at the bottom of those trees midway down the right side of the chute, and take some video.

Good times.

Oh, and what happens to Todd on my last turn...that's called Karma.