154 | Silverton, CO | 26 Dec 2009

Over the Christmas holiday while still searching for fresh snow, I met up with Carol, Corien, and Casey at the base of Silverton Mountain on Saturday, their first open day since the Sunday prior.




Most striking about the hour drive towards the mountain from Durango was the prominent inversion taking place. While the temperature was well below zero at 6800 feet, somehow it reach an unseasonably mild level four-thousand feet higher. With not a cloud in the sky, could this be a rare mild and windless day at Silverton? Sure enough, we had a perfect day on our hands; and although the snow quality wasn't the greatest nor was the base deep enough, we still had an excellent day out.


After taking the lone chairlift up to 12300 feet, we were greeted with fantastic views to the east:




Six-hundred later, it only got better as Casey looks towards the west:




Patrol was very busy with avalanche control and we heard no less than a dozen bombs explode with only northern faces reacting unfavorably:






Our first run of the day was a rock-filled chute called Tiger Claw. Here's Casey making his way to a safe place to drop in:




And now coming out the bottom:




I soon follow but bear left about a third of the way down before attempting to straightline out:




While exiting, the variable snow got the best of me with limited coverage as I was nabbed by the infamous shark tooth buried shallowly in the snow:








Shaken up by the crash, I still managed to find some soft snow:




Below is a short video capturing the day:

Silverton, CO (2009.12.26) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

153 | Monarch, Colorado | 24 Dec 2009

Yesterday certainly wasn't the deepest day, but when a mountain skis far deeper than the two inches of new snow reported ... well ... that's all anyone can ask for.


Your author




Bill






Ashley





Helmet camera footage

Monarch, Colorado (2009.12.24) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

152 | Loveland, Colorado | 20 Dec 2009

Still not much new snow in Colorado, so here's more "early season" helmet camera footage on the 192cm Moment Garbones while chasing down a few friends at Loveland this past Sunday:

Loveland, CO (2009.12.20) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

151 | Constructive Metamorphism

If you're wondering why I've avoided the backcountry recently, you can blame constructive metamorphism, something so elaborately detailed by Peter Marchand, professor of winter ecology (click here for a more concise explanation of this phenomenon as provided by the University of Alaska).

Taken from the UAF link above, as the winter season progresses and snow accumulates on the ground, the snow itself becomes an important insulating layer. The blanket of snow helps retain the latent heat of the ground. Temperatures at the ground's surface tend to hover within several degrees of freezing. Conditions can be significantly warmer on the bottom of the snow pack than at the snow's surface, where it is exposed to the chilly arctic winter air. If the temperature gradient is at 0.18° F/cm, then the process of constructive metamorphism (where new crystals are actually formed) dominates.

The water vapor present near the warmer ground surface is under higher pressure than the cool water vapor at the top of the snow pack. Natural dispersion of energy causes water vapor to move from warmer to cooler, and from higher vapor pressure to lower. The greater the temperature gradient from bottom to top, the more quickly the vapor transfers. As the water vapor contacts cooler temperatures it crystallizes directly from vapor to frozen solid ice crystals in a process called sublimation. In a snow pack with a significant temperature gradient, large six-sided, cup shaped depth hoar crystals form a loosely packed layer at the bottom. This "sugar snow" can often be the weak and unstable layer that causes avalanche hazards.



Now that we all understand constructive metamorphism, let's examine a real life scenario by taking a closer look at the Berthoud Pass SNOTEL site. From December 3rd to the 13th, zero precipitation fell while the combined average temperature over that time was -0.4° F. For nine of those eleven days, the average daily temperature was less than 14° F or well within the required temperature gradient of 18° F per meter of snow pack that causes depth hoar to form.

I was hoping to ski Cameron Pass last weekend until I read a recount from December 10th in which 30cm of fresh snow was found on top of 40cm of sugar. Similar sketchy conditions were reported at Berthoud Pass throughout this past week. Everything I read hinted towards imminent disaster which ultimately occurred yesterday when several slides occurred near heavily-traveled terrain - fortunately, no one was injured. If we digest further, 13" of snow had fallen at Berthoud Pass between Monday and Friday - that's 13" of dense snow forming a slab on top of what is effectively 20" of air. Add extra force on top of that such as a skier, and you have the perfect recipe for avalanches to occur.

150 | Loveland, Colorado | 5-6 Dec 2009

As I type, southwestern Colorado is awaiting the brunt of the biggest storm to hit the area in weeks while the rest of the state suffers from the El Nino blues. I keep hearing that "everything will even out in the end", but faith is quickly losing its attractiveness as this season now becomes a Where's Waldo? of recycled powder. Perhaps my angst isn't completely justified, but by this time last year, runs underneath Chair 1 at Loveland were already open for a week and the ropes on several back bowls at Vail were just a couple of days from dropping. Obviously, there's much more interest towards what lies outside a ski area, but take these examples for comparative sake.

With that said, below is some early season helmet camera footage filmed at Loveland this past weekend. You might find it rather tame considering the complete lack of any new terrain since long before Thanksgiving, but it's a look into finding ways to amuse ourselves with limited options.



Loveland (2009.12.05-06) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

149 | MOMENT SKIS: The Biggest Little Skimaker in the World

Back in early October, I flew out to Reno, Nevada to hang out with the Moment Skis crew for what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend with some friends who I haven't seen since February. Instead, the trip quickly turned into "Ski Building 101" for thirty-six hours during a hectic push to get more than eight-hundred skis out the door. As the article at the bottom mentions, I was witness to one of the infamous 3AM casino breakfasts just hours before arriving at the shop to work on my eighteen-hour day. Some might have trouble with such a drastic change in schedule, but for me, it was a pleasure to finally be a part of the ski-making process for a company I've been involved with for a few years now.

During the spring of 2007, I was introduced to Moment Skis and soon contacted the company with hopes of being able to purchase their largest offering, the Comi, which boasted one of the biggest dimensions at the time: 160mm in the tip, 136 in the waist, and 145 in the tail. I was willing to throw down plenty of coin for a pair without even trying them, but to great surprise, founder Casey Hakansson had far better intentions. Without me even asking, he shipped a pair of the Comi along with a prototype of the M1 colored in solid pink topsheets to Colorado free of charge. I asked when he wanted them back. His reply? "Whenever the season's over."

As anyone would expect, I was completely blown away by Casey's generosity and I've since been a loyal supporter of the company. More surprising was the welcoming of design suggestions that were taken into consideration over the years and put into production. Who knew such a small company back then would turn international and support a strong team of skiers that includes prospective Olympian and current US Ski Team Freestyle member Shelly Robertson, Jackie Paaso who placed second in this year's World Heli Challenge in both freeride and big mountain, Josh Bibby, Craig Garbiel, Cedric Tremblay-Fournier, and K.C. Deane and to name a few.

Moment Skis has grown so much recently that Backcountry.com featured the company in their latest monthly newsletter with an article entitled The Biggest Little Skimaker in the World which offers rare insight into the skiing community and what it takes to become a highly admirable fixture of the industry.