Enjoy the couple photos below of autumn scenes in Joseph taken today (10/30) because it doesn’t look that way right now in our beautiful Wallowa’s. Check out our Current Conditions page for this weeks latest photos and what it’s really doin’ up in them thar hills.
Enjoy your weekend, Keith
I wouldn’t normally put conditions on the home page but this one demands attention. I was up in the Aneroid Basin today very close to Dollar Lake doing some observations. A widespread rain crust (rc) was noted on all aspects measuring from quite thin to nearly 3mm at 8350′. This crust is well bonded on it’s underside to the immediately adjacent snow surface (this bonding also might not last), however, the top of the rc is polished and shiny wishing I had brought my crampons. I would have liked to look at the surface at the 9000 foot level but with the kickstepping and exposure, the risk was too great. This rc likely will pose serious concern as the upcoming storm will bury it and it will become a persistent problem for some time to come. For a full report on my findings and others this week look for the end of the week summary on Friday morning.
regards, Your Director
View across Dollar Ridge toward Petes Pt. @8350'
Cirque or bowl of Pete's Pt. 10-25-09
We as an information Center for the backcountry recreationalist have committed to providing weekly snow condition and brief weather summaries starting the first Friday morning in November and lasting throughout the season. We intend on getting these summaries onto our site early each Friday morning with all the latest and most recent information to help you plan your weekend outing. Just click on the Current Conditions button and look for the week of interest. All weeks for the season are archived.
You will see we have started already as a trial test in October to work out any bugs and so forth. Let us know what you think by clicking on the comment button below.
Keep thinking snow!!
From all of us here at WAC
Well, it certainly was an eventful two+ weeks on the road. Just last Thursday I attended the Nat’l Avalanche Center directors meeting in Leadville, CO where I had a chance to pick the brains of many very experienced avalanche center directors from all over the west. I came back with ideas for fund raising which is a very important part of every avalanche center in the nation. You see, on average, all centers raise as much as 2/3 of their operating expenses through donations, gifts, sponsors and grants. WAC will be implementing some of these ideas through the winter months.
One big advantage for the Wallowa Avalanche Center being a part of this National directors network is the sharing of new developments in ways to get information out to the public in more expedient, accurate and easy to read formats. With time and funds, WAC can begin a long term plan to institute some of these things: as just one example -> a Google Earth map of any witness reported slides, points where observations took place, and photos of current conditions all shown by a little teardrop that you click on and expand. Cool stuff!!!!
On Friday was a professional development seminar where all of us enjoy a day listening and taking notes, as top Avi professionals review the latest in Avi research and the practical field application.
I invite anyone who has questions to send them in to WAC (through the message board or a comment here) and if we can’t answer them we sure can direct you to the right person, now that we have the personal national contacts.
Stay tuned for more news real soon and it’s lookin’ good out there with some white above 7000′.
regards, Keith and all of us here at WAC
Many thanks Julian for the earlier Snow report and aerial photos of the Wallowa’s.
Yes, I’ve been tripping around the Western US busy at work (yeah sure). I visited two of my associates at the Utah Avalanche Center where I learned of a nifty new little tiny temperature sensor data logger which I will employ in various locations at the snow surface and just under it this season. This will help in understanding when surface conditions may be changing for the worst (surface hoar, NSF’s, recrystallization, etc.) just prior to the next storm cycle.
Just today I was working my way through Colorado and stopped by Arapahoe Basin Ski Area which opened on Friday October 9. “This is our earliest ever opening since we began in 1946 and we have 18″ of machine made base”, said Tim Finnigan, mountain manager as I spoke to him Sunday. I was about to ask, what’s machine made? since we Wallowa folks rely on the heavens for our snow. See pics below.
At the end of the week I have two days in Leadville, CO where I’ll be attending the National Avalanche Center meeting of directors and then a one day Colorado Avalanche Center workshop. I’ll be reporting briefly on the highlights of those two next weekend.
regards, Keith and all of us here at WAC
One run open and seemingly thousands standing in line.
Lot'sa grass but they're sure havin' fun!
Keith, our illustrious Director is on a road trip, so I just wanted to make a quick update to the site. We just got our first real dumping of snow in the Wallowas. For those of us on the West side, it didn’t seem to have quite the effect it had on the East side of the mountains, especially around Joseph. I was thinking that most of the snow would have melted by now, but with temperatures in the mid teens this morning in the Wallowa Valley, it might be a while! Please take a look out our “Current Conditions” tag for some recent pictures of the mountains after this storm. The National Weather Service is forecasting another big storm in the coming week, but it looks as if the bulk of that storm will track south of us.
Julian Pridmore-Brown