What’s your wind threshold?

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cedica
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by cedica »

greenonion wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:23 pm
cedica wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 2:21 pm
greenonion wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:40 pm Hoping Dave B can calculate that wind velocity...
https://youtu.be/Sg_vKZIVyqg?list=PL_jI ... nvrZ&t=67s
I sold my bike to Satan.
Aww c'mon, I'm sure that Old Scratch is too busy signing up musicians at the crossroads instead of collecting bike frames on 14ers.com. It's just that your story reminded me of that movie The Lighthouse - two people in confined space while all hell is breaking loose outside and barometer is falling like crypto market.
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SchralpTheGnar
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

I guess I’m a little different here in that for me it totally depends on temperature and the terrain, the colder it is or the more challenging the terrain the less my tolerance for wind would be, must be just me.

I can estimate Wind speed pretty well, whatever wind I think it is, I just divide by 2, this gets me to within 95% accuracy.
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greenonion
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by greenonion »

cedica wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 8:36 pm
greenonion wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:23 pm
I sold my bike to Satan.
Aww c'mon, I'm sure that Old Scratch is too busy signing up musicians at the crossroads instead of collecting bike frames on 14ers.com. It's just that your story reminded me of that movie The Lighthouse - two people in confined space while all hell is breaking loose outside and barometer is falling like crypto market.
Just messin witcha. Good analogy!
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Dave B
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by Dave B »

greenonion wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:40 pm A long time ago when I was heavier, 180ish, my wife and I were in a 2 person tent near the edge of Muley Point in far SE Utah and the wind was so strong it scooted the tent 2, maybe 3 inches. We left the next morning before sunrise.

Hoping Dave B can calculate that wind velocity given my weight and my wife around 112 then. North Face Lunarfire tent. Can’t give ya pitch and yaw though, if that’s even the right thingys :mrgreen:
Unfortunately, my specialty is the airspeed velocity of unladen swallows.
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DeTour
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by DeTour »

I climbed Belford on Oct. 22 of this year, day before a winter storm came in. Or maybe you'd say day of, since the wind was essentially the leading edge of the system, with precip coming in the next day. I don't know what the actual wind speed was, but the forecast was 60 mph gusts in general, and 60 mph sustained at summit elevation. It felt like all of that to me, but as others have said, judging wind speed is hazardous business. The temperature was moderate, but I still came away with what I think is a touch of frostnip in one thumb from the wind chill.

I count it as probably the dumbest thing I've done in the mountains, and I've made some pretty boneheaded decisions over the years. Solo, stubborn, knowing the next day's snow would mean the end of my 14er climbing for the year, in a year where I climbed way fewer 14ers than I had expected. I rationalized that there would be some shelter from the wind along the route - but the least application of research and common sense would have shown me the northwest ridge route would take the full brunt of the forecasted northwest winds. I had read Alan Arnette's account of his Twin Sisters mishap, and it weighed heavily on me the entire time, especially since I'm of a similar age, where bones might break a bit easier than is the case for younger folks. I learned how to walk crouching down, feet spread wide and hands outspread to maybe catch myself if a gust blew me over. I don't know how many times I said to myself, "this is just stupid." But I kept going. Not proud of it frankly.

By the time I summited Belford I had long since abandoned my ambitions for Oxford. No attempt to find or sign a summit register; no admiration of views; one miserable selfie of me huddled in the shelter of a rock, looking just plain weird. A couple people had summited before me; I'd seen others below me turn back. I was so relieved to be heading down. But as I started to descend I encountered several other groups still ascending. I passed two young guys who had paused just below the summit block, talking and laughing like it was just another day on a Sawatch walkup. So what do I know.

Even though I truly believe it was foolhardy for me to press on, I was glad for the summit, and the experience. But in the future, yeah, I think a 50 mph forecast sounds like a good upper limit.
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by timisimaginary »

greenonion wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:23 pm
cedica wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 2:21 pm
greenonion wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:40 pm Hoping Dave B can calculate that wind velocity...
https://youtu.be/Sg_vKZIVyqg?list=PL_jI ... nvrZ&t=67s
I sold my bike to Satan.
glad to hear Lance Armstrong is still riding.
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by huffy13 »

ChadBriggs wrote: Thu May 26, 2022 5:10 pm After a handful of peaks and a couple turn arounds I’ve had a wind scare. I’ve talked to a couple great mountaineers on here and Facebook and wondered what everyone thinks is too windy? One very trusted source says his turn around is 50 mph. On Elbert last year we got caught and it was so windy that I felt I was being lifted while sheltering in place. I can’t wait to hear your limit and your stories!
I have lived all but one year of my life in the Texas Panhandle, so I have a slightly higher tolerance for wind than many, but I came across winds on Shavano that exceeded 50 mph as well as when a buddy and I ascended San Luis. I was literally knocked off my feet twice on the Shavano ascent, even using my trekking poles for balance. I never lost footing on San Luis but my hiking buddy I think did a couple times, he was a good ways ahead of me so I didn't witness it. The wind was more tolerable on Shavano since it was summer time and wind chill wasn't a factor, but on San Luis I almost gave up at about 13700 just because the winds were unrelenting and cold even though it was just mid September. If I had not seen my hiking partner standing on the summit right as my morale bottomed out and realized I was literally just a few hundred yards from the top I would have turned around.

I guess my tolerance all depends on situation and also as I get older. When I was in the earlier days of my hiking experiences I would tolerate more of it as long as it was just me and others in my hiking party that were close to the same age...if my kids were with me I would not put up with it as much, mainly because I wanted it to be a fun and educational experience for them, not total misery for miles. The temps are also a big factor too...the colder the less I'll tolerate. I've only done a couple hikes or climbs that had any real exposure, but high winds would definitely affect my decision making if I were looking at higher exposure routes.
Seems like the times that I need a mountain the most are the times that I can not get to them.
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Micaiah
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by Micaiah »

55mph gusts forecasted is my max when planning a climb. When i start getting knocked down a few times (takes 65+ to put me down) I may reconsider and turn back. Depends on visibility and the potential consequences of a fall in the terrain I'm in, plus my partner's tolerance for wind. It once took me 2 hours to cross from the top of Martha to the base of Cables route (0.5 miles). I'd get in 3 or 4 steps, take a knee to weather an 80mph gust, then repeat. Cables and the North Face were sheltered from the wind, so I still tagged the summit.
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by two lunches »

when hiking with my dog, i've got a hard cap at a 30mph forecast. he doesn't care for the wind and honestly with the number of stories i've read about people getting blown off their feet, i'd consider high winds to be a safety hazard. i can tolerate a little more, but as a primarily fair-weather hiker i try to avoid anything above 25 and prefer a slight breeze.

i don't feel the same about skiing- if the lifts are running and at least half the runs are open, i'm going.
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by Hiking_TheRockies »

It really depends on the terrain for me. Last winter I was climbing Sniktau and faced frequent gusts of 50mph and standing winds of around 30mph for the entire time. We made the summit, though it was cold and miserable. The trail up Sniktau follows a wide bluff with virtually no exposure, and while I was getting blown around, I wasn't worried about the consequences of falling. On the other hand, if I was climbing up Class 2/3 terrain with a sizable drop-off nearby, my wind threshold would probably drop to 30 or 40mph. If I was at a spot with exposure and a drop-off that would definitely kill me if I fell, I would not want winds gusting past 20mph.
Just walking on a sidewalk, I'd probably be fine with winds gusting up to 60 or 70, though it would be miserable.
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by jfm3 »

I grew up in Casper, Wyoming, where the wind frequently blows 50+ mph for days at a time in the winter. My family lived a few miles south of town, near Casper Mountain, and the wind blew even harder up there in the foothills. On the worst days the wind was strong enough to require bent-over walking while outside and it would take both arms to push the car door open (always park facing into the wind- if you park the other way, the door will get ripped off the car!). In the winter the wind frequently gusts to 70+ mph on I-25 & I-80. Driving requires turning the wheel a few degrees into the wind just to keep the car straight. The windiest days on the Front Range are about the same as typical Wyoming days. And worst of all, the wind sucked all the moisture out of the air and made the climate so dry that the skin on my hands would crack and bleed for most of the winter. In the winter, I do miss the colder & snowier weather of Wyoming but I do not miss the wind at all.
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Re: What’s your wind threshold?

Post by greenonion »

jfm3 wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 10:21 pm I grew up in Casper, Wyoming, where the wind frequently blows 50+ mph for days at a time in the winter. My family lived a few miles south of town, near Casper Mountain, and the wind blew even harder up there in the foothills. On the worst days the wind was strong enough to require bent-over walking while outside and it would take both arms to push the car door open (always park facing into the wind- if you park the other way, the door will get ripped off the car!). In the winter the wind frequently gusts to 70+ mph on I-25 & I-80. Driving requires turning the wheel a few degrees into the wind just to keep the car straight. The windiest days on the Front Range are about the same as typical Wyoming days. And worst of all, the wind sucked all the moisture out of the air and made the climate so dry that the skin on my hands would crack and bleed for most of the winter. In the winter, I do miss the colder & snowier weather of Wyoming but I do not miss the wind at all.
Man, can I attest to this. Driving back and forth from UT to Ft Collins on I-80 (we call it the Wormhole) during our daughter's college years that just recently finished, we fought those HUGE winds MANY times, plus other treacherous weather. Saw many semis already tipped over and saw one tipping in front of us last year. It was able to correct itself and recover and pull immediately off the highway. That was harrowing. We call that state Windoming. Ok, not really adding anything to the threshold discussion here, but maybe just a bit of :shock:
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