A chill and breezy afternoon in the old mining town today. It was apparantly a successful, and popular, weekend at Highlands with great upper mountain snow conditions and plenty of frivolity in the skimming pond at the base area.
One more weekend to go for the Highlands!
The forecast for the week looks mostly sunny with temps in the high 50s and 60s for Aspen, which means the snow should corn up nicely.
Saturday and Sunday are to be mostly sunny with a high near 58 on both days in Aspen and a high in the mid-70s in eastern Utah...
Aspenites are now on to a broad range of activities including backcountry skiing, hut trips, mountain biking and boating in the desert and simply living life at a pace slightly off of “intense.”
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center is encouraging folks to still “think ‘avalanche’ if they are in the high country and remind you that that you can “can effectively avoid avalanche terrain by staying off of and out from under slopes that are steeper than about 30 degrees,” which is a bit like saying you can avoid swimming the rapids if you stay out of rushing rivers.
The CAIC also reminds you that “snow stability changes from day to day and hour to hour. For example a large spring storm, or a sustained period of hot weather can increase the avalanche danger. During a storm, or immediately after, new snow may not bond well to the icy old snow surface. Also, soon after a storm, several hours of bright sun can warm the surface snow enough to become unstable. Though, after a couple of days, the snow will strengthen and the danger will gradually decrease.”
Watch your world, and be careful...
Rivers are coming up around the region. The Colorado at the Utah state line is heading up to 11,000 in a hurry, the Fork at Glenwood is pushing toward 1,200 and the Gunnison in Grand Junction is heading over 8,000 cfs. It seems that much water is coming out of Blue Mesa Reservoir below Gunnison, which is pushing up the Colorado as well. Go easy now...
