Avalanche Essay....

The San Juan Mountain range has been both a beautiful and enjoyable place to do winter activities for many years.  Although these mountains seem like a wonderful, safe place, a silent danger constantly plagues many slopes ideal for skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling and snowshoeing.  This danger is known as an avalanche, and from our weather conditions to snow pack, the San Juans are nearly the most dangerous area in America when it comes to these mighty snow slides.  

The height of this danger is caused by several factors.  One of these aspects is the drastic change in weather the San Juan area faces daily.  A large snowfall can be followed by many sunny days, creating a sun-baked crust as the top layer.  Soon after, more storm systems may move in causing either a large shift in snow due to wind, or an immense amount of snow dropped on the slopes in a short period of time.  Many may see this as the perfect powder day, but the sun-baked crust under the fresh snow can not usually hold the weight of the new snow, and will become a bed surface, or the surface on which the snow slides, resulting in unstable snow conditions.  Even the slightest amount of weight, such as a skier, can trigger an avalanche when conditions such as these are formed by weather.  Another factor that can lead to avalanche danger is the snow pack.  Generally, once a snowflake has hit the ground it changes in one of two ways, depending on vapor and temperature differences.  One such way is by becoming rounded and tending to bond well with other snowflakes like itself.  When flakes to this, a "slab" is created.  Another way a snowflake may change is by becoming angular and grain-like.  Flakes like these do not bond well together and result in a "depth hoar," which is a layer that becomes a weakness in the snow pack.  When a slab layer ends up on top of a depth hoar, conditions for an avalanche are suddenly created, the heavy top layer has difficulties staying put when it is found on top of a weak layer.  When this type of snow pack occurs, it is very easy for an avalanche to happen.  Drastic daily weather changes, and snow pack are just two factors that are key in the height of avalanche danger found in the San Juan Mountains.

Although the San Juan Mountains are a perfect playground for a variety of winter activities they are also extremely avalanche prone.  From weather to snow pack, these beautiful mountains have been set up with just the right equations to become one of the most dangerous areas in the United States when it comes to avalanches.

Friday, 01/16/09

Today is the last day of the ISP and my tenth and final post. These last two weeks were JAMMED with loads of fun and I'm really sad to see it all go. Today, I finished up editing the video for the Snow-science ISP, and it made me think of all the fun stuff we've these past few weeks. Everything from building igloos, hiking mountains, and who could forget, skiing. If I could have a school that did this constantly, all year round, I'd SO be in it.. But I guess this is close enough. My main hope is that I get an A in this ISP at this point, because it would be a shame to fail anything like this, that was so fun and challenging.

What I Deserve

I learned a lot about snow during this ISP. The trip to Red Mountain really opened my mind to avalanches; I never realized how easy they were to set off. I did pretty well on my idndividual projects too. I think I deserve an A. I always did what was required of me. I was prompt and open minded I really enjoyed this ISP.

last day week 2

In the past two weeks i learned many things bout skiing and stuff about avalanches. Skiing with a ski school instructor and telling us about his daily life as a coach. The skischool instructor's name was peter. Peter taught us all his skills and abilities. I also learned many things about avalanches and how many degrees the slope needs to be for an avalanche to occur. This ISP was sooper dooper totally tubuler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! = )!!!!

Finale

Throughout our winter ISP I learned a number of things. From the magazine articles I learned what snow and weather conditions end up being the perfect recipe for an avalanche, as well as some of the same information from our ski patrol. I also added to my knowledge of how skis are made, including what materials go into them and what tools are used to make one of my favorite objects on the planet. I found the trip to Wagner Customs extremely helpful when it came to learning something new. As far as my 20th Centry skills, leadership and the engagement of others, I feel I did alright on both of these. I could have upped my leadership some during our group projects I suppose, but really Allison, Jayleen, and I combined our talents to all be leaders in a way. Engaging others was not easy for me when it came to the ski patrol, simply because I didn't really have much to say to him, but at Wagner I felt I did a great job. When it came to engaging with the other students in the class I didn't know very well, I feel I also excelled, getting to know most of them well. Because of my effort, and having done all the required assignments I believe I deserve an A in this ISP.

Course Summary

This ISP has been filled with learning and awesome experiences. We went along with Peter Englund, a ski patroller, and learned all about avalanche safety, and how the ski patrollers check the weather. He dug a snow pit and showed us snow layers as well as showing us the sonar snow measurer. Another activity was following Steve Vanstratt and looked through the motor rooms of different lifts. It was really interesting because I have always been interested in what it takes to run one lift. Besides learning about the lifts, we learned about all of the safety procedures done in our ski resort to keep people safe; it was quite reasurring. We also learned about teaching skiing..it's harder than you would think. We were actually required to teach our fellow classmates how to do something; ie: carving, "buttering", and skiing switch. These were just a few of many very fun activities we did.
This ISP wasn't just about fun, we also had to think a little. We needed to work on a "City Year Skill" throughout the whole experience. ONe of mine was being accountable and responsible. I think I followed this well because I was rarely late, and if I was, it was mostly because of confusion of direction. Since I did follow this skill, I think I deserve at least a B. I don't want to have too high of expectations, but we also worked very on our projects and finished. All in all, though this ISP is sadly over, i learned a lot, and hopefully my hard work will pay off with a good grade.

ISP#10

Through out this 2weeks I learned new things about snow, what we can create from it, what can happen from it and how much fun we can have.
The first project, learning and building an igloo made all of us remind how important it is to work as a group and to tolerate. Snow was really heavy and it was cold outside but everybody tried to build one igloo together as a group. I appreciated everybody's contribution to the projects but it was hard to think yourself what you can do to help. I think I could have worked more quickly by thinking creatively and critically.
Reading "The Climb" was very hard and with difficult vocabularys but it was interesting. I couldn't imagine how tough and rough the way would be to the top of the mountain. It said they needed fully covering warm clothes and oxygen masks and many other things. The first time I came to Telluride, it was hard for me to breath because of the elevation but MtEverest is way higher. It would be like going to space! I was impressed by their courage and will to work together to accomplish a goal which was a really big one.
Watching the movie was sad but was a very important thing for all of us to learn. It is scary when you think how fast things are occuring and how bad things people are doing. It is very true that global warming is about the whole world and not only one person or even a country. I also felt sorry to the earth by what I might have done and might be doing so I will try to think more about the environment and the news about the earth.
Skiing with ski instructer teacher, working on our 2projects were good for learning about snow. I really got the profit out of the place I am living right now and am happy I was able to do that.