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Derailed

Quinn, guessing you may have heard about this one. Spillway chair:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_ski_lift_accident

Wish I had some better news after snow gods just smiled on me. I've now received 26" of uber-light blower snow at my house since the 14th and snow up on the mountains around my house is now deep!...was too deep actually. When my house was finally plowed out at noon from the 14" my backyard got on Monday I decided to head up to my local bc spot. Was the only person there. Brutal skinning as there must have been close to 18" of fresh up there, plus the 12" of light grade stuff that was already laid down. In wind exposed areas the drifts were waist deep, even rocking the Coombas. Dropped off the ENE facing slope for a 1st run since barely a puff of wind had hit the snow surface on that side. Thigh deep and not enough pitch to get the Coombas up on a plane...straight lined the whole thing :( Not sure the exact pitch, but it's basically just too steep to skin directly up. So decided to head over to the NW aspect. That aspect had received way more wind exposure, but definitely more pitch, at least was able to get the skis up on a plane and make a couple turns that send waves of white over top. Also the wind scrapped areas allowed me to build up speed so that when I dropped in the deep areas I had a good head of steam. Brutal day but I guess it will be a good workout for next month's adventures. Hoping a dawn patrol attack on Mt. Equinox is in the works for Friday before what looks to be a mini-thaw event to start the new year.

Welcome to DeepCember....Inter-mountain West Style!

Had a great time roaming around the west skiing with the usual suspects over the past 10 days: Natkin, Bindu, The Arens, Grayson, Olsen...etc. Thanks for all the hospitality, the turns were great!

DeepCember 2010 from Tyler Knauer on Vimeo.

Slim snow, plenty of wind, and a little rain

****Adjust to 480p in lower right corner or play full screen****

The Lone Wolf??

Seriously...National Weather Service in Colorado puts out the following statement and there is nothing from Knauer:

CONFIDENCE IS VERY HIGH THAT THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE
SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNTS OF SNOW THAT OCCURS EXTREMELY RARE...PERHAPS OF
EPIC PROPORTIONS. AT THE SAME TIME...PROVIDING PINPOINT DETAILS WILL
BE A CHALLENGE AS THE MESOSCALE MODEL DATA LOSES SKILL BEYOND 1 TO 2
DAYS. BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT SUBSTANTIAL SNOW WILL IMPACT
GUNNISON COUNTY AND CONCEIVABLY THE AREAS SURROUNDING AND INCLUDING
CRESTED BUTTE THAT COULD RECEIVE 6 TO 8 FEET FOR A STORM TOTAL BY
THURSDAY (AS WELL AS OTHER ISOLATED AREAS IN GUNNISON COUNTY). THE
SAME CONCERNS EXIST FOR SILVERTON WHERE ACCESS OVER THE SOUTHERN
PASSES COULD GET SHUT DOWN FOR EXTENDED PERIODS. AGAIN...SNOWFALL
WILL BE RELENTLESS AND UNFORGIVING AS THIS STORM HAS SIERRA NEVADA
CHARACTERISTICS WITH STRONG DEEP MOISTURE TRANSPORT INTO THE
CENTRAL ROCKIES.

I'm liking the forecast!!

This Afternoon: Snow. High near 28. South wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.

Tonight: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Steady temperature around 29. Windy, with a south southwest wind 22 to 25 mph increasing to between 36 and 39 mph. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 15 to 21 inches possible.

Saturday: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 31. Windy, with a southwest wind between 32 and 38 mph, with gusts as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 9 to 13 inches possible.

Saturday Night: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 24. Windy, with a south southwest wind between 29 and 32 mph, with gusts as high as 48 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 9 to 13 inches possible.

Sunday: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 29. Windy, with a southwest wind around 33 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.

Sunday Night: Snow. Low around 21. Windy. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.


Ohh right...whoops, that for the Central Sierra, my bad!

New England's Great White Hope

Here it is folks...NE chance at serious redemption:



At this point i'm giving it 50:50 odds of all-snow vs. mix bag/rain event. Almost all models are showing at least some mixing for VT as the storm travels west of us, but most of the meteorologists are not believing it. We would be measuring snow if feet if it remains all-snow...similar in scope to Valentines & St. Pats '07 storms.

Vail Season total 109" Stowe Mtn Resort 28"

It appears to be another fickle winter in New England. Luckily you guys look like you're finally coming out of the dark days as a nice storm system is coming in this week and temps are going to stay LOW. Bout' Time. Although we have been getting pounded in Colorado, a 5 day December thaw wreaked havoc on the mountains near the front range. Avy conditions were very low today so we ventured into a 21o0 vertical foot avy path near Montezuma, Colorado to farm to recycled powder. Skiing up top was beautiful cream cheese, high speed, boot to pow turns. Turned out the "pillow lines" at the bottom should be renamed "pillow rocks" as they proceeded to annihilate the bases of my skis! More SNOW moving into Colorado Mon-Tues and Friday. I'm really psyched I decided to take a graduate class all weekend next weekend....doooohh! Enjoy the snow EC crew, you guys deserve it! Please give us an update on any turns you may eek out from this system.....

SNOW. COMING. TO. NORTHERN. VT.

See title.

The Tale of Two States in Vermont

Running tally since I moved here:
Northern VT: 5,241 vs. Southern VT: 6

IN SUMMARY, IT LOOKS LIKE AN UNSETTLED PERIOD WITH SNOW SHOWERS AND PERHAPS PERIODS OF SNOW EACH AND EVERY DAY. ALTHOUGH I DONT FORSEE ANY MAJOR SNOWSTORMS, I EXPECT WE`LL GET NICKLED AND DIMED (ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTHERN SECTIONS AND HIGHER TERRAIN) WITH THE SNOW, BUT BY THE END OF THE NEXT WEEK WE`LL LIKELY HAVE A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT SNOWPACK ON THE GROUND, ESPECIALLY IN THE HIGHER MOUNTAINS WHERE WE`LL PROBABLY MEASURE IN FEET. I SUSPECT THAT WILL BE GOOD NEWS TO WINTER OUTDOOR ENTHUSIASTS.