Berthoud

Really big terrain is sort of difficult to capture in a still image -- and this one is both small and maybe backwards. I was all set to post something about the situation in Somalia (all that postcolonial reading is actually pretty relevant...) but then I talked with my mom this morning, and found out about this.

We've been going out to Grand County, Colorado, for almost 20 years now, and I was always sort of thrilled by spotting the old avalanche trails going over Berthoud Pass. It used to be a seriously treacherous road that the Highway Patrol would close when it got too windy or snowy, but it's now a three-lane freeway (in parts) to some of the best skiing ever.

Except that it's still seriously treacherous, under the right conditions. There are signs posted everywhere warning backcountry skiers about avalanche blasting, but you'll still see these deep board and ski trails snaking through the chutes that run down the mountainside. A slide like this hasn't happened in a long time (maybe ever). If you clicked that link, the ridge running through the center of the satellite image is the Continental Divide, and the pass itself crests at over 11,000 feet - so it's kind of like driving over the top of the world. The snow that the avalanche produced was 15+ feet deep - it is so, so fortunate that they got everyone out.

There's a PDF here, which oddly enough also shows that there's an old avalanche run called "Webel's Wobble." The things you learn on a Monday morning. Fascinating.

The snow in the Front Range has been something else this year - Andi was on one of the last planes out of Denver at Christmas, and Mom said today that she didn't think summer would dry out & start till July, with all of the snowmelt. Here in New York, where winter isn't really happening, I am itching to ski. I'll miss it this year, which may be for the best...except that bad road conditions usually mean great snow.