Chicago Basin

[hurdles]

Hi, this may be a bit premature but as I am sitting here thinking about it I am a bit excited for the summer to come. My wife and I are thinking about hitting Chicago Basin the end of June....how has the snow melt been this year. Like I said probably a bit soon but can anyone shed a little light on the average conditions late June or early July in the San Juans....thanks in advance...

[Rockymtnhigh69]

It was an EPIC snow year in the San Juans... I would still expect a ton of snow back there even in late June.. Plan accordingly..

[lordhelmut]

A group from this site (Wesley, Benners and a few others) are down there as we speak, probably just finished skiing Sunlight/Windom and are enjoying a brew at camp as I write this. They'll have some info I'm sure come Sunday, re: conditions down there. Keep in mind, the San Juans are the first line in defense from the dust storms that sweep through Colorado in May and that speeds up the melt. Vince is right, they did have an epic year, but its tough to gauge what it'll look like around that time. These storms that have been hitting the Front Range lately, haven't hit the San Juans as hard.

If I had to make a guess, I'd say you might still need, at the very minimum, an axe. The snow will be soft corn I'm assuming, so crampons might not be as essential. Thats a complete guess though, I imagine we'll have a better idea once that TR pops up next week. Keep an eye out.

On a side note, there is a good chance myself and a friend will be in the Wilson region, as well as the Yankee Boy region over Memorial Day weekend. We'll be sure to post conditions as well.

[CO Native]

It was an EPIC snow year in the San Juans... I would still expect a ton of snow back there even in late June.. Plan accordingly..

Really? Epic? Either SNOTEL info is way off or your talking a very specific area. SNOTEL is showing below average. Have you been out in it yourself to see?

basinplotsjadsm10.gif (80.66 KiB) Viewed 1934 times

[gohigher861]

I agree with lordhelmut. There hasn't been any appreciable snow down here in awhile, but the WIND!! We've had a couple major dust events along with some minor ones. We're usually somewhat windy in the Spring, but I don't remember as many high wind days so often, well maybe last year. There have been some days with 80 to over 100 mph gusts up high. I wonder if there is a lot more blowdown up high or if the last two springs have taken care of that. Looking forward to reading the latest Chicago Basin TR.

[gohigher861]

CONative,

I agree with what you're saying. We have had some very big snow DAYS here, I think we were above average for a little while at the beginning of the winter due to some very big 2-3 day storms, but overall for the season it was closer to average overall than epic. Still, there were some GREAT ski days.

Jeff

[Rockymtnhigh69]

It was an EPIC snow year in the San Juans... I would still expect a ton of snow back there even in late June.. Plan accordingly..

Really? Epic? Either SNOTEL info is way off or your talking a very specific area. SNOTEL is showing below average. Have you been out in it yourself to see?

basinplotsjadsm10.gif

No I haven't been down there recently.. I was referring to Telluride, Ouray and Silverton areas.. Maybe I shouldnt assume that all of SW Colorado got pounded... There were several big storms to come through there this year that missed the central Sawatch mountains.. We have friends in Ridgeway and Silverton and they said it was a very good snow year..

[hurdles]

Thanks, I will keep my eyes open for the trip reports, we have this late June window and we need to get some of the harder to get to peaks of our list The pack in will help w/our training for Rainier too. Caring an ice axe along would be a good idea....

[Carl]

A group from this site (Wesley, Benners and a few others) are down there as we speak, probably just finished skiing Sunlight/Windom and are enjoying a brew at camp as I write this. They'll have some info I'm sure come Sunday, re: conditions down there.

Sounds about right Brian, except the beverage of choice was a nice scotch thanks to pioletski. Really wish you could have made it. Ben is putting together the TR now.

[Rich H]

This might help... Charlie Thorn keeps pretty good records of snowpack over the years for the Hardrock one hundred down in Silverton. It looks like it is shaping up to be an average year for snow pack. A lot depends on these last couple of months before the race which is held the 2nd weekend in July. IE Cloud cover and temps to see how much snow melts out.

http://hardrock100.com/hardrock-snowconditions.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

cheers,
rich