‘RED MOUNTAIN PASS – CHIEF OURAY HIGHWAY: A HISTORY OF FORECASTING AND MITIGATION.’—rŌbert — THE AVALANCHE REVIEW

East Riverside running over the shed.

Gary King photo

West Riverside the same day.



The Avalanche Review, February & April 2009



It’s anybody’s guess why forecasters do this job. It could be the smell of powder, throwing 50 pound shots from the helicopter, watching hard slab failure release energy over several alpine basins at once, or maybe just the company you keep.

Whatever the reasons, you get hooked on the excitement and the challenges of the job. It requires a lot of field experience (series of non-fatal errors), collection of empirical evidence, listening to your inner voice (intuition), and distilling all of the variables to reduce uncertainties until you can finally make a decision that you can live with. There are many truths to be learned. It’s no big mystery; you pay attention and do your work because you don’t want to be a victim of your own bad planning. It helps to be comfortable in the world of uncertainties.

~~~  READ PART ONE , PP. 24, 25, 32  ~~~

East Riverside & snowshed..

photo collection

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~~~  READ PART TWO OF RED MOUNTAIN PASS – CHIEF OURAY HIGHWAY  ~~~

Jefe & CDOT foreman, Tim Lane



The Battleship