The Pineapple Express and how to find snow in Colorado and other places

A satellite photo of a Pineapple Express weather system moving a river of warm, water-laden air from Hawaii to the West Coast.  Photo courtesy of NASA

The Pineapple Express dumped, poured and saturated the West last weekend, keeping many of us indoors taking care of long-forgotten chores.  Meanwhile, the Coloradan blogosphere was loud with exhortations for more snow.

I'm not the only one with the questions:

1) Where can I find good snow?
2) What does the weather mean for the snowpack?

Alas, there are no straightforward answers, but a little research can tell you quite a bit. One of the best sites I've found for snowpack data is the National Resource Conservation Service SNOTEL site.

NRCS's mandate is to, "measure snowpack in the mountains of the West and forecast the water supply."  This is not for the express purpose of promoting recreation, but it sure helps.  SNOTEL snowpack data includes: snow depth, snow water equivalent, snow temperature and accumulated precipitation.   This can tell you not only how much snow is on the ground at a sensor site, but if the snow is accumulating or melting, and if the snowpack is dense or light and fluffy.

The colored dots represent the "snow water equivalent as percent of normal" snowpack data.  In other words, each dot shows if the SNOTEL site has  received more or less precipitation than average for today's date.

During the days of the Pineapple Express, Ryan and I kept checking the nearest SNOTEL site at Twin Lakes to see if the snow looked good enough for a day of skiing.  What we saw was a melting snowpack, increasing temperatures, and a rising snow water equivalent.  We also checked weather.gov for the weather forecast, which showed rain at very high elevations.  We decided not to go skiing in the rain, on top of heavy, sticky, melty snow.

The SNOTEL data and the weather data are both available on hillmap.com.  You can plan your route in advance, and then check back a day or two before you leave to see snow and weather conditions at your location.

Check SNOTEL on hillmap.com on the Data & Analysis Tab

Check weather at a particular point on the Points tab

Checking weather at a particular point will take you to the weather.gov forecast for that point

Additional Resources:

• SNOTEL site, snow water equivalent explanation
• Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, an excellent book by Bruce Tremper that includes detailed, interesting and very readable information on how to interpret snow pack.  This is where I go when I want to interpret SNOTEL data, or data I've gathered myself from digging avalanche test pits.
• Cliff Mass's book, The Weather of the Pacific Northwest- if you're in the PNW and interested in understanding the weather, this is the book for you.  Also, check out his blog for updated forecasts and comments on PNW weather.

Help Test The New Hillmap

Early season nordic touring

It has been a while since there was an update to hillmap.com, this is partly because we have been quite busy with work, mountains and moving to the Bitterroot valley in western Montana, but also because I've moved cutting edge development to a separate site so that I can experiment without breaking the main site.

I'll soon upgrade the main site but if anyone wants to start using and testing it now and let me know if they notice any bugs, etc. I would very much appreciate it. You can temporarily access the new app at:

http://beta.hillmap-hdr.appspot.com/

It is under active development so don't be surprised if it changes from one day to the next or breaks.

Both sites have access to the same data store so, if you have an in progress route you can move it from one site to the other by swapping "www.hillmap.com" part of the site address to "beta.hillmap-hdr.appspot.com".

The main goals of this upgrade are:

• Fixing bugs.
• Improving performance, especially start up time (notice the "Find a New Line" loading screen is gone).
• Better documentation that is accesible through pop overs and expandable areas so it doesn't get in the way of advanced users.
• Working better on phones and tablets.
• Looking better.
• Finding space for some new features without shrinking the maps.

Please post bugs and suggestions in the comments of this post or send them to me at contact@hillmap.com.

Thanks!

Simple, Adjustable, Flarable Crack Machines

Lifting a weight with a ring lock in a handscrew clamp

Living in rural Montana near vast quantities of granite is amazing for climbing...part of the year. Some of the locals are tough enough to enjoy wading through snow to climb dripping rock in fridged temps. We recent transplants from more temperate climates will need to get creative with our training if we hope to keep up come spring. 

These rocks are dripping wet and covered in snow and ice at the moment

I've always sucked at ring locks and off fingers and I would like to train those and a few other specific types of jams this winter. I think I've found an ideal tool, 10" Wood Handscrew Clamps.

Fist Jam

Handscrew clamps are a nifty bit of mechanism that my Dad uses in his shop for holding pieces of wood together while glue sets. Each clamp consists of two long blocks of hardwood mounted on threaded rods with handles so that you can adjust the width and flare of the clamp.

Without any modification they are perfect for all sorts of finger, ring and fist jams as seen in the photos above. Adjusting the flare allows you to make the the jam easier or harder.

I've been lashing the clamp to a free weight and dialing the flare so I can hold a jam for under ten seconds and then doing sets (say three sets of ten) like a weightlifter (I use a hangboard the same way). You could also hang them and use them like rock rings though I haven't tried this yet.

The corners are a bit sharp (like some real cracks) and I might take some coarse sandpaper to them at some point to smooth out the sharp bits and roughen up the faces.

Maximum Width of this clamp is about six inches. 

It is flarable...

...in two directions.

You can quickly adjust the width by spinning the clamp.

They don't really work for hand jams which require more surface area than the jaws offer. To solve this I will probably attach boards inside one of my two clamps. I also have some 12-Inch Handscrew Kits (unfortunately not available through amazon at the moment) and some 8 foot 2x12's that I plan to turn into a ceiling height crack machine.

Future plans include adapting for hand and thin-hand jams and an 8 foot crack machine

I was originally considering mounting the clamp kits at odd angles to allow the crack to be bomb-bay flared but I think this is impractical which means it might be quicker to just order 12-inch clamps. There are a couple of things I need to figure out to make this work well:

• How to mount the crack so it can be adjusted and flared but can't shift while in use. 
• Some kind of crank and chain system to allow quick adjustments. Turning the shafts by hand is too slow when you can't spin the clamp.
• An easy way to mount the crack so it can be tilted into an overhang or roof crack.

I'll post updates as I get all this figured out. 

The Nano Puff Pullover is so Good it Stinks

My Patagonia Nano Puff Pullover is wet. It smells awful....or maybe that is me. I was breaking trail uphill in nothing but a base layer. When I stopped I pulled it on and then put my DAS parka on over it. I kept the Nano on as I started down and the added warmth helped my base layer dry while I warmed back up, transferring all the moisture to it.

Tree skiing in the Nano

Worn over a soft shell for added warmth in wet snow in Mount Rainier National Park

Good thing it is so easy to wash.

Jen and I both have Nano Puff Pullovers and we bring them on most trips. In warmer conditions mine is often the only piece of insulation I use. I clip it on my harness for alpine climbs and throw it in a small pack for trail runs or bike rides in case I sprain an ankle or break a chain.

A perfect light insulating piece for summer backpacking

In the winter it is a key layering piece. It is cut boxy enough to fit over several layers yet is compressible enough to fit comfortably under a shell.

It has held up well in the year and a half I have had it and has only a few slight snags despite being worn for bushwhacking and tree skiing when I was too cold to take it off or move it under my shell.  I also wash it regularly which is something that is hard to do with a down piece. (I use a Granger Outerwear Care Kit which includes laundry soap and a DWR refresher to keep the Nano water resistant. Don't use standard detergent! It works by wicking water into the fabric and ruins DWR. Granger or McNett products work and smell much better than NikWax but are harder to find.)

The Nano puff isn't very breathable, and for sustained activity in the cold where you will be moving a lot of sweat, you are better off with a combination of thin fleece and/or soft shell (I like the Patagonia R1 Hoody and a windshirt or thin uninsulated soft shell like the discontinued Patagonia Ascensionist).

Worn on a cold morning in late summer

The Nano is perfect for stop and go activities. I keep mine on while climbing the first pitch on a chilly morning or when leap frogging down a slope on skis or skiing lift served laps. I'll often wear it after a rest break and stop briefly to peel it off before I get too warm.

Used like this or worn under a parka it can soak up the moisture from your base layer, leaving you dry and comfortable. (This doesn't work as well in humid Cascades conditions...bring an extra base layer for that). This winter in the colder dryer Rockies I plan on experimenting with the Nano as a sacrificial sweat absorbing layer under a thick down parka.

Jen breaking trail in her Nano

Several other companies make similar pieces that I haven't tried. The key features of the Nano Puff are the loose fit for layering, 60 g Primaloft One insulation (warmer per weight then primaloft eco or sport), light weight due to minimal features and the ability to stuff in its own pocket for clipping to a harness.

Patagonia made a similar pullover a few years ago called the "Puff Ball" which was discontinued in favor of heavier garments with full zippers and a more flattering, less versatile cut. Hopefully the same fte won't befall the Nano but if you want one you should pick one up soon. They frequently go on end of season clearance for around $100.