by JBella » Sat Dec 03, 2016 2:46 am
I know who some of them are, hence I see some potential for something positive here - if egos don't get in the way. The website is now live, I hope they are looking at it as a work in progress and understand the intent of constructive criticism; it could be cleaned up and organized a bit. To me it seems like an e-debris field of information that was tossed into a martini glass and shaken, not stirred. The map shows the Columbine Hondo as a wilderness study area, alongside the pre-2015 Wheeler Peak Wilderness boundary - not to say that political boundaries really matter when regarding snowpack conditions, yet to provide a public service, information should be current and accurate. An important fact to consider towards the development of a formal avalanche forecasting entity specific to our locale, and a reason I described it as such, is that the Columbine-Hondo region (north of the Hondo River) and Wheeler Peak / Williams Lake region (south of the river) are two different geologic areas. During the past decade I've learned these two areas usually have very different snowpacks and conditions are rarely significantly complimentary from one side to the other due to how the geology and orographic effects influence the various localized climes. Bull of the Woods and Frazer Mountains are almost a third distinct area which extends to the northeast around and beyond Red River. Each of these zones contains several independent avalanche paths, most are known and some are speculative (to the extent that we can know for certain) based on physical potential and existence of or lack of evidence of activity in recent history. It's great that some individuals are taking the initiative to organize a formal avalanche center, I hope the local and extended communities show interest as has happened with NNMAE, and that this venture is successful in providing the specific public service as intended.