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.

last blog

I learned in this isp is how to build an igloo, how to dig a snow pit for back country skiing, and some stuff about how to teach people how to ski. I deserve a 3 or 4 this is because I tried and did my best.

THE END

During this isp I tried to do my best. First of all I tryed to read the book 'the climb' during christmas break, but actually it waqs pretty hard, it took me a long time to arrive at page 30. Last week I started reading from page 120, how was assigned, finding it a bit easier, maybe becouse the story was already in medias res. I wrote all my 10 blogs, making them as long and completed as possible, writing also about the San Juan avalches. I also did my project about the different events in ski racing and I guess it came out pretty good; ALso yesterday I wrote my personal paper about ski racing. I found a bit pointless the igloo, I didnt learnt that much the first days; if for any chance I'll be in a survival situation in the snow I'd rather build a snowcave then an Igloo, in fact with all the tecnology of these days it's kinda pointless build it with just a saw (that's my point of view, I hope it will not affect anyone). I found pretty useful the introduction to psia, it was really interesting, and now I'm determinated to do the first level of ski instructor during my year here. Also very interesting was the movie that we saw, normally I find documetaries hard to follow or boring, but not this time, and I learnt a lot from it. Teacher could think that I didnt make many effort on following this isp, but actually I tryed to come to class as much as possible, going training just in that moments where almost everyone was skiing and I would not learn as much as a training day. I love skiing, in Italy i dsont live as neart at the mountain as here, I wanna try to train as much as possible, just for this year, it's my ionly occasion. ALso during these days I had to attend ap review, calc, one hour every day with homework, that actually werent that easy. I'd really like to have an A in this Snow Science isp, but that's up to the teacher and I hope they'll grade me in the best way possible.

last day

I believe that I deserve an A. I participated in every activity that we worked on. I also completed my 10 blogs. I gave all of our guest speakers my full attention and I was always respectful. I was not here the first day and missed the city year skills. I think I deserve an A because I worked hard on my projects and on top of that I was respectful to everyone.

I believe i deserve an A in this Isp. I completed my projects and showed interest in all of our class activities. I was very interested in the ski lift mechanics and this also taught me some city year skills. We had to listen to the lift mechanic so that we didn't get injured and so that we could understand the lifts. Also we had to work together in a group on our igloos which was a city year skill.

Last Blog!

Throughout this while ISP we studied all about snow. I learned how to check the snow layers, and to see if it would slid and become an avalanche. I also learned how to build an igloo. In these two weeks we went up on the mountain and shadowed a ski patrol, Peter England. Anotrher day we went on the mountain again and shadowed a lift mechanic,Van. He tought us how a ski lift worked. We also went on the mountain with a ski school guy. We split up into groups and tought everyone else how to do something. My "city year skill" was responsible and accountable. I fit that one becuae i was one time every day, i did what i was supposed to and didn't complain. I think that my grade should be either a B+ or an A. I tinhk this becuase i was on time to school evderyday. I was on the mountain on time every time we went up there. I also think this because i did everything i was supposed and didn't complain one time.

3 day weekend!!!! yea!!! helll yea!!! biznach!!! yea!!!

although i did everything required to my fullest abilities, i think i deserve a B. i dont think that i learned all that i could, but i did my projects, and i learned my 21st century skills, mostly. i learned critical thinking when i did my hypoxia project. it was so hard to find things on the altitude sickness hypoxia, mostly it came up with aquatic hypoxia, this made it so that i had to think, what could i type in to get the results i want, when i did find the page i got my info from, there was soo much information on it, i could have filled up two posters front and back. this required my critical thinking skills to say, whats important, what can i drop, and what can i simplify to make shorter. i kind of already knew how to use the internet to conduct research, but this class improved that skill by making it easier to think of what i could type in to get the best results. i learned about hypoxia, i learned about snowboard design, i learned about becon searches, i learned where the web cams are, i learned where the backcountry access gate by baldy is, i learnd the vertical drop of the ski mountain, from the highest lift, and from the top of palmyra, i learned about how avalanches start, what slopes are most susceptible to avs, and i also had time when we went up with the ski patrol guy to work on my one footed boarding skill.

Last Blog

Throughout this ISP, I have learned a lot of interesting new things about snow science and avalanche safety. We did a lot of activities that were both fun and educational. We went out with different ski patrol people who taught us the dangers of avalanches and also what you have to do to rescue someone safely from an avalanche. We also went out with Chris, a ski instructor who talked a lot about the requirements to become a certified ski instructor. We were also very lucky because we got to go check out Wagner Custom ski shop which was really cool and interesting. It was nice of all the people who talked about us for dedicating their time to us, I really learned a lot.

During these two weeks, we also built an igloo (or attempted to), wrote 10 blog entries, read The Climb, watched An Inconvenient Truth and completed two small group projects. I spent a lot of time on all of the things we had to do so I think that I deserve an A or at least a high B. I even answered the questions for The Climb, which after I had spent so much time on them and worked really hard, I found out we didn't actually have to do them. My group and I also spent a lot of time on our projects and worked really efficiently which helped us finish early and have enough time editing them.

The "City Year Skill" that I wanted to work on during this ISP was to be responsible and accountable. My group projects show that I have fulfilled this because they are very creative which does not make them easy, and I still managed to have enough time to make them as good as possible. I learned so many new things during these two weeks and I'm happy that I chose this ISP. As well as having a lot of fun times and exciting activities, I still learned a lot and it was very beneficial. I am thankful for all the numerous people who taught us all the interesting things that we learned during this time because if it weren't for them, I would not have gotten out so much from this fun experience.

last day of isp

i learned a ton about avalanches and lift mechanics. i had lots of fun in this isp. my city year skill was critical thinking and i applied that when peter talked to us. i picked out good imformation to remember and didnt worry about the other stuff so i could remmember the main parts. i think i deserve a B in this isp. i completed all of my assigments and put a good effort in.

PORTER

final blog

Through out this ISP we have learned so much and done so much too. we learned about how avalanches are triggered and how you can build a snow pit to check the snow pack to see if its ski able. we got to build snow caves and igloo's that helped use under stand how we could build a structure to survive out in the wilderness. We also got to do a lot of skiing which was super sick. My city year skill was work collaboratively and critical thinking. i should team work in the making of the snow cave. Damon and i both did an equal share in digging and shoveling out the snow cave. Also with critical thinking we had to make sure to build the snow cave in the right spot and make sure we dug out slowly in the digging of the snow cave so that it wouldn't cave in. i think that throughout this ISP i have done and turned in everything that was a signed to us and that everything i have done i have put my full effort in. so i think i deserve an A or a B, and thanks to all the teachers Yong, Taylor, Newton and Andrews for making this ISP awesome.

Last Blog

Over the past two weeks in this ISP I learned a lot about snow and mountain climate. In order to do this I had to complete the necessary requirements such as building an igloo, writing 10 blogs, reading THE CLIMB (I also answered the questions), watching AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, and taking part in other activities on the mountain such as listening to the ski patrol guide, and learning from our ski instructor guide, Chris. We were also required to complete two group projects. My group was Peyton, Yayoi and myself and we made a powerpoint about the Decemeber and annual snowfall in Telluride from 1970-2008. We also made a scale model of Bald Mountain, Wasatch Mountain, and Gold Hill. I worked hard on these projects and the group got along very well so we were able to complete the projects on time and to the best of our abilities.
At the beginning of the ISP we had to choose two "City Year Skills" that we would try to accomplish over the two weeks. I chose to "think critically and creatively" which I accomplished by constructing the scale model of Bald Mountain because it is an engaging 3-D representation of the mountain. I also chose to "use the internet to conduct research" which I accomplished by making the powerpoint and only using relevant data from the internet. I also had to use the internet to conduct additional research for other tasks, and while diong this I made sure I only used reliable information.
I believe that I deserve either an A or a high B because I completed every task that we had to do. In addition to just completing the tasks, I put time and effort into each one so that it was something I was happy with.

What I Deserve

This isp I have done two projects. Aside from the multiple smaller projects such as skiing with a group, reading Climb, 10 blogs, and writing my snowpack essay, I think I deserve an A. I have been working very hard to do a good job and get a good grade. I learned a lot about ski design and snowpack. I have used critical thinking, using the internet to find good material and communicate affectively to help try to get a good grade. I liked this isp and I hope the next one is just as good.

last day week 2

For the past two weeks i did two projects i was here everyday except for the first day. I did all the activities during the past two weeks. I went skiing with the group i built the igloos with the group. The thing that i never completer was the reading for "Climb". I didnt get the opportunity to get my hands on the book. I also completed the ten blogs and wrote my snowpack one page essay.

Thursday

Today we finished up our projects on ski design and lift mechanics. The final products came out rather well, and should be good when it comes to presentations. Other than that, we tied up loose ends, finishing up other assignments and getting ready for turning in everything tomorrow. After all this was done, we went up skiing again for ski P.E. which was a good time, giving me time to spend the afternoon with Allison and Nina.

fri jan 16

The last day!!! Its kind of sad but its definitely time.... ISP’s are over today it’s the last day. We are going to present our projects and then have a race in town park. We get to race anything but plastic sleds skis and snowboards basically we can race anything that is 20 years old or something like a surfboard. It’s been a great ISP I’ve enjoyed it a lot and it’s sad to see it come to an end. I think the most important thing I learned in this ISP is snow safety, in particular avalanche safety. What I learned in this two-week period will stick with me my whole life and I’m thankful that I was given this experience.

thurs jan 15

Today was the second to last day of the winter snow science ISP. I think that today was my most productive day yet over the entire ISP. We got to work on our projects all day. Kevin and I finished both out chair lift project and our snow cave project. As of now we are ready to present!! After working all day we got to enjoy the snow for a few hours with ski pe.

wen jan 14

Today the class went up onto the mountain to learn how to teach people how to ski. The class skied with the ski school. After the morning class on the mountain with the ski school we all went back to the school got a quick lunch then got right on the bus to drive down valley to the Wagner ski shop. At the shop we had a guide that led us on a tour of the shop and walked us through the steps on how to make a pair of skis. Since they make custom skies every ski they make is different. I think it would be fun to work in a place like that. I think that you are allowed to explore your individuality if you buy a pair of skies there because you design them and u get to decide on every little detail on the ski. After our tour of the ski shop we drove back to the school were we worked on our projects the rest of the day.

mon jan 12

The first day of the second week: We worked on our projects until lunch and then we watched Al Gore's movie an inconvenient truth. I had seen that movie before but not in a while so it was good for me to see it again and remind myself to appreciate what I have and be thankful for the snow we get. This movie was really important to show to our class because we are the kids that love the snow and spend most of our free time on the snow. I think that it was good for us to see because we are going to need to make a change in the ways we life if we want to keep telluride snowy in the winter. We all love snow and the activities that you can do on it but if we don’t change, than there will not be anymore snow to ski or snowboard on.

Fri jan 9

Friday, it was finally the end of the week! Today we were going to go back to the bottom of lift seven to finish the rest of the igloos and try to close in the tops and make decent roofs. When we got there the two igloos that we had worked hard on all day Tues. had been destroyed. There was nothing left but two piles of giant bricks that were the ice chunks that we used to build up the igloos on Tues. We split the class into two groups and were able rebuild one of the two igloos back up out of the ruined state we found them in. I was in the first group and never got to see the finished product but when I was there I could definitely see improvement in all of our igloo building skills.

Avalanche Conditions- San Juan Mountains

We live in the San Juan Mountain range, one of the most avalanche prone areas in North America, and better yet, the entire world.
There are a couple reasons for this, one of which is terrain. Depending on the terrain, there may or not be avalanches. Apparently, the "perfect avalanche terrain" is a hill that has a slope of around 38 degrees. If it is less, then it won't be steep enough for the snow to move, but if it's too steep, then the snow will just keep falling, so there won't really be anything that is worrisome to slide.
As well as terrain, weather is another factor that makes avalanches a big deal in the San Juan mountains. Sun and snow both have similar effects on snowpack in an area. The sun melts the snow making it wet and very heavy. If it's snowing outside, more and more snow keeps getting piled on. Both types of weather apply extra pressure to the snow which makes the weak spots very vulnerable to sliding.
And lastly, snowpack is also a variable in causing avalanches. Avalanches are caused by an unstable or weak layer in the snow on top of a much harder layer (bed surface). These different layers are caused by the two other variables previously discussed. When enough pressure is applied to the weak layer, it eventually has to let go, causing a large quantity of snow to slide down an area- avalanche.
Avalanches can be very destructive and dangerous, so it is good to keep in mind all of these variables, so you're not in the wrong place at the wrong time.

thurs jan 8

Today we stayed inside and worked on our projects. I partnered up with Kevin and we decided to do our projects on ski lifts and how to make a snow cave. We did a lot of research and found out plenty of things that we could apply in our power point. We also made a nice poster to go along with the power point. We still had more to learn about ski lifts, and snow caves but we were going to do that when we went on the mountain next week. After lunch we got to go out to ski pe and we got some nice snow for ourselves.

Avalanche Conditions

The San Juan Mountains are an area very prone to avalanches. They are prone to avalanches for several reasons which include the weather. With the daytime sun, the cool nighttime temperatures and steep terrain, the Silverton area is highly prone to avalanches. The daytime heat causes the early season snow to become shallow and the low nighttime temperatures turn the shallow snow into "sugar snow." The "sugar snow" is a grainy snow that does not stick together and is not a strong base for other snow. Therefore, the area becomes highly avalanche prone due to the weak "sugar snow."

Each year, the snowpack is different, so you can never be positive whether or not you may get stuck in an avalanche. The people who are most often stuck in avalanches are those who are not familiar with the San Juan Mountains. Being a very skilled skier does not guarantee you will be very skilled when it comes to avalanche safety. If anyone is planning on going backcountry skiing, they must make sure to check the avalanche warnings and be aware of the high avalanche risks in the San Juan Mountains. No one can be sure that they will not get stuck in an avalanche, so they should definitely prepare for the worse when skiing in the highly avalanche prone, San Juan Mountains.

Avalanches in the San Juan Region

The San Juan Mountain region is prone to avalanches due to several aspects of the area's topography and snowfall pattern. The snow in the area is relatively unstable due to the warm daytime sun, cold nighttime temperatures, and steep terrain. In addition the formation of this weak layer early in the season allows for avalanches to occur. This is why the San Juan Mountain region is a perfect area for avalanches. 

The snowfall pattern is a major contributing factor to avalanches. A typical winter season in the San Juan region is comprised of snowfall early in the year that remains on north-facing aspects, such as Spiral Staircase and Plunge off of chair 9. This early season snow is unstable because of the generally warm temperatures during the day that cause the snow to become shallow. The cold nighttime temperatures alter the snow's make-up even more and cause it to form fine grains called "sugar snow". The "sugar snow" lacks cohesiveness and thus it is unstable, especially when additional snow is packed on top of it. 

wed jan 7

Today the section of the class that didn't go to red mountain met at the top of lift nine at 10:00.When we all met up, there was a ski patrol/avolanche specialist meeting with us. He told us a little bit about his job and what he does. He then took us over to the weather station where the ski patrol measures all the snow on our moutain. They measure the new snow and the base. He then showed us around the ski patrol hut. We then went to look for hidden beakers that were coverd by snow to simulate an avalanche. Later in the day we went into Prospect to dig a snow pit. The ski patrol man then showed us how to look at if the snow is safe by performing different tests on it. At the end of the day we all walked away with much greater knowledge of avalanches and the ski mountain.

week 2 thurs

today way a pull it all togather day.  for me i had to do a bunch of crazy FBLA stuff but besides that i did the finsishing touches on jack and i's scale mountain. then i put a potster of our data collection on the tues and pics of the locations. then we got out of school at 1235 to shred we headed straigt over to chair 12 and hit up the newly open black iron bowl. well our inscructor didnt want to hike all the way up so we went up to genevieve, droped in and traversed over into the bowl. riggs and i hit up as many kickers and drops as we could find. then we did it again. next we went over to 14 and skidded along the rope to get through the gate to go into what i think is called hold hill 1. me and rigs eyed up a perfect cliff to hit the run before. once we got jackson to the bottom to spot our landing we hit it. both of us landed almosat perfect. it was awsome. 

week 2 wed part 2

after a depressing lession we were luckey enough to get to go down valley to Wagner Custom. so after kyle and i got some nuke-pizza at clarks we jumped into a bus and headed down. during our tour of the workshop we were all just kinda like "aww dude", "woah man look at those skis" "thats sick" we were all thinking "dude im getting these skis" until someone asked the starting price. when i heard that the skis started at 1700 all my hopes and dreams were lost and i was sad. but i became stoked again when i saw that we got to get stickers to take. when we got back jack and i finsihed our scale model of diamond mt. also i was put to the task of figuring out how many vertical feet we did on tues. that turned out to be harder than i thought it was going to be. 

week 2 wed.

wed. was the same meeting place as the day before, bottom of 7 at 9. the people that got there early headed up the chair. once at the top we waited for too long for the slackers and got bored. we decided that since we had to wait so long that they are going to have to wait for us. therefore we bombed down to 4 and rode it back up to regroup with the ski school instructor. once we met with this dude we were told we had to teach eachother how to do certian ski moves. since everyone of us are pro skiers and dont need any for of lessions what so ever, we were all very bad at teaching ourselves something we already knew hot to do. plus the fact that we were sitting around for days on chair 5 didnt help the attitude of us all. even newton was bored to death. fortunely we were done with ski school- NEVER EVER lessions at 12. 

2nd week tues afternoon.

once we finished our amazing snowcaves we were set off to get food to refuel for the second half of the days adventures. jack and i got some pizza and dried out our cloths from being in the cave for almost 2 hours. then a 1 we all met up at the bottom of 4 and split into groups again. so me cody luis matt and young were given the task to find webcam, weather station, av point, BC point and ski patrol. since we figured that everyone of those could be found on chair 12 (because young prolly made the list and he loves chair 12) we headed there. through some minor dificaulties we were able to get a pic of everybody by one of the spots. after that was complete we were free to go. so holt the hockey player, jack and morgan and i took off to do a few runs of chair 12 and then to rev bowl and then down the face. it was a bomber day. 

2nd week tues morning

in the second week of the winter isp we met up at the bottom of chair 7 at 9. we were split into groups the day before by picking what we wanted to do for the day. i chose, along with nate, morgan and jack to do the SNOW CAVE. we did a few evaluation runs to find a place to build our snow cave. for a proper snowcave you need 9 feet of snow thats hardpack. we found just about that at the top of chair 12. for about 1.5 hours we slaved away using 2 shovels and an ice axe. because me and jack picked the perfect spot and we worked our behinds off, we were able to create a huge cave able to sleep 4 people. with time to spare we connected our with nates and morgans who had a bit of trouble with trees inside the cave. 

ISP igloo revision

A couple of day's ago Mr. Yong asked use if we were to do the igloo's again what would we do different. Well i think what we should of done was to cut out the right sized blocks and from there we should of made the base layer then from there start to lean the blocks in from there. that's basically all i think that we needed to do.

tues jan 6

Today the entire class went to lift 7 to try to build igloos. We started them off by digging a small hole in the ground where we could then shave chunks of snow out of the hard packed ground. The blocks of snow that we carved out were all different shapes and sizes. My group tried to spiral the blocks inward and slowly build it up. In the end our group just had a huge tower that didn’t have a roof. If I was to do it over I think that I would have used blocks that were all the same size and I would have angled them in more to try to close in the roof. This was a great experience to learn how to make a small house out of snow. I just hope next time I try I’m able to make the roof work.

ISP#9

We stayed at school today and finished everything we had to do.
I worked on the poster with the pictures we took on Tuesday and the answers of the questions we had on the worksheet.
The answer that surprised me was the one we had to sum out the percentage of the ski area we skied that day. It was only 14%. I felt like I skied a lot that day but it was only 14% area. The goal I made for this winter was to ski all the runs that are in the ski mountain. I thought it would be really easy to accomplish but maybe not. I bet I've only skied 30% of the whole mountain since I started skiing this season!
I could have gone to the museum with MsNewton but I have already been there before so I stayed at school. It was quite interesting to see the pictures of Telluride's mountain in the olden days and the skis. I heard that long time ago, the length of a pair of skis for a person was supposed to be the length of that persons feet to the tip of their finger when he or she streched it high above. That is so long! My skis are up to my eyebrows or something.

Well, I hope everybody will be interested in our presentations tomorrow.

ISP#5

Today we stayed at school and worked on our projects and watched some of the movie.
It was very relaxing so I liked it.
I first worked on our projects by researching about the snowfall in Telluride. Then, I looked up the geography of the ski mountains in Telluride. Everything about Telluride is so different from Japan, it was interesting to learn about things here.
Where I live in Japan is quite a city and you can hardly see any mountains around my house but here, you can see mountains 360degrees and also the horizon.
It also makes me feel strange when I think that I'm living in such high altitude. I used to live so much lower with more humidity. I remember when I first arrived in Telluride, it was hard to breath whenever I ran or worked out just a bit.
It seems like a completely different world when I stand in front of my house and see everything covered with snow and very flat.
I like it here!

January 15th

It's our second to last day in our ISP, and it sure was productive. TOday, we just stayed at school and worked on our projects again. This was useful because my group had LOTS to do, but we finished both projects, and boy was it a relief. Though our projects are done, I personally still have quite a bit of work to do. Reading, blogging, writing essays...jeez! Thank goodness we have ski pe today, so I can get my mind of those really important things. All in all, today may not have been the most exciting,but it was productive.

Second to last day.....

The second to last day of this ISP, we stayed at the school from 8;15 till 12:30. All day Jayleen, Dana and I worked on bioth of our projects, which we actually finnished. We finnished with one hour to waste. After lunch today we get to go to ski P.E. and have fun in the snow on the mountain. I really hope there are more people in my group today then there was last friday. On that friday it was only Nina, Chris and I. We had a bunch of fun though.

Essay....

The snow in the San Juan Mountains has some of the most dangerous avalanches in the world. There are three variables which are snow pack, terrain and weather.

The avalanches in these mountains are caused by an unstable layer in the powder on top of the snow pack. This condition is completely influenced by the weather and the terrain. Because the area in these mountains are so susceptible to avalanches, it is the duty of the people to bomb the avalanche chutes to make sure the mountain is all safe, and to understand all the causes of these avalanches.

The terrain in the San Juan mountains differ form other mountain ranges because the San Juan is a lot more steep. All these mountains need for it to erupt is 38 degrees. Also 38 degrees is pretty much the slope for every run on our mountains. Because there are no runs without rocks any where snow cant hold itself together as well as it should be able to.

The weather is also a huge cause of avalanches. First our weather is usually pretty sunny the top layer of our snow melts, and then over night the melted snow freezes and becomes ice. For example it might snow the next day; which creates an automatic avalanche when any pressure is added.

January 14th

We are half way through the second week of our ISP. Today, we went skiing again! We followed Chris Chaput, a PSIA ski trainer, and gave eachother lessons. We split into 3 groups of 4 and we were each assigned a topic to teach our fellow classmates. I was in a group with Marta, Peyton, and Hadley, and we were assigned to teach people how to carve. It was a little difficult to think of way to teach people, but Marta had a drill, so it all worked out. After all of that teaching and learning we headed back down to school. At about 12:30, we journeyed down valley, and went to the Wagner Custom warehouse. The workers there showed us all of the procedures they do to make people these amazing skis. It was really cool to see this...i want a pair for myself. It was a short trip down, but filled with great informations and it was a great experience. I feel very lucky to have gotten the priviledge to go down there.

Snowpack

Snowpack in the San Juan is one of the most sketchy and unreliable snowpacks in America. This unpredictable snow pack is the leading cause of avalanches and avalanche related deaths. This snowpack is the direct result of different storms that create a plethora of different types of snow. For instance, when a little storm front is brought into the mountains, it will bring a light layer of snow to pack the ground. This light and pathetic snow is a terrible base layer when a huge storm front comes in. When a large amount of heavy snow falls, it has a detrimental potential. This snow pack can initiate a sliding of layers. This is because the slab of heavy snow can break or loosen the smaller layer. There needs to be about a 38% slope. The snow pack may look stable, but when a crevasse falls or a skier breaks the layer, the whole run or slope is prone to a slide. Slides can occur in a convex and concave structured mountain. Since the weather in the San Juan is so unstable, there is an imminent and looming danger. For example, the snow may be sugary or really wet. The sugary snow is the more unstable snow pack that could be a malevolent danger. It is significant to be as vigilant and precautious as possible.

NORTHERN SAN JUAN

WEATHER DISCUSSION:
The wind keep blowing persistan on a NW direction on the Front Range. Apparently also all the next week the Northern San Juan is going to be covered by clouds, but there isnt any signal of precipitations. Temperatures are gonna get higher, especially during the weekend.
SNOWPACK DISCUSSION:
On the West side of the zone there should be trigged slides, wich were all soft slabs, and all ran on hard polished bed surfaces abd will probably bring on some repeated offenders when we move back into a storm cycle.
Near Red Mountain pass a fresh hard slam has been reported, it looks like a cornice fall triggered it (50 feet wide, it ran 50 vertical feet). There were a couple more shallow slabs on teh south aspects near the pass (6-8 inches deep). Another larger soft slabran near Ophir on a SOuth-West direction (it ran about 2200 feet).
The winds are coming down, beside they're still strong, but in fact they already created some damages. There's not a whole snow to move off the windward aspects to the northerly winds anymore.
AVALANHCE DANGER:
The avalanche danger for the Northern San Juan zone is moderate near and above treeline all aspects. The danger is low below treeline. Human triggered slides will mostly be shallow and confined to upper snowpack layers, though deep slab instabilities persist.

Avalanches

The snow in the San Juan Mountains is some of the most dangerous in the world. The three
variables in avalanche dangers are snow pack, terrain and weather. The latter two sets the San Juan’s apart from a lot of the mountain ranges in the world. Avalanches are caused by an unstablelayer of powder on top of a really icy layer, this condition is completely influenced by weather and terrain. Because the area is so susceptible to avalanches, it is the duty of the people of the San Juan’s to know and understand avalanches.
The terrain in the san Juan's is different from other mountains in that it is very steep, all that is needed for an to erupt is a 38 degrees, nearly every slope in the San Juan's is at least that steep. The mountains are also full of cliffs and ledges, at the bottom of which avalanches often begin. Because there are no rockless powder fields any where the snow can't hold itself together.
The weather is also a huge factor in snow pack and avalanches. Because the San Juan's are such a bright and sunny place, the top layer of the snow often melts; then at night it gets extremely cold. The product of this is a small frozen layer of snow. When it snows the next time it buries that layer under white fluff, an avalanche waiting to happen. The snow is so light, if disturbed, it slides right off the ice layer.
When sunshine and steep terrain mix, they create a waiting-to-happen avalanche. When out in the mountains know what conditions make avalanches. Be aware and prepared, avalanches will kill!

wed 14/01

Today we met again with Chris. I was in a small group of 4 people, where we were supposed to explain how to arc a curve.
HOW TO ARC A CURVE
Stand position: feet and knees as wide as the soulders, skiis at the same level, upper body facing the fall line,.in cordination with the arms. Go a bit on the edges, bending the knees to the upper part of the mountain. Flex the boots.
First part of the turn: start going forward in the stand position across the hill, release gradually the edges of the skiis and the skiis will automatically start turning through the fall line, untill being completly in the fall line.
Second part of the turn: Start from the skiis pointing the fall line and try to get edges gradually, untill reaching the stand position; the skiis will again turn automatically if everything is being doing in the right way.
Combine the first and the second part of the turn: A carve turn will come out.

tues 13/01

We had to meet up at 9 at the bottom of chair 4 in mount village. Waiting for us there was Chris, a ski instructor ready to give us an introduction about PSIA. We starded freesking on butterfly so he could have seen our level and where he could have brought us during the morning. He gave us some basic information about skiing, rails (the best way of destroying a pair of skiis) and bumps. I could say that i dont really like bumps, my way of skiing doesnt match with them. In the afternoon I went training GS, freeskiing on milkrun. It was really good training, no people on the run and perfectly grumed. I really enjoyed tuesday, all day on skiis. I love skiing.

second to last day

ahh finally almost done. i enjoyed learning about snow science and ski patrol and such, but i think id rather go back to regular school. this week has been particularly tiring, between snowboarding and doing projects that is. i thought it was coool that we got to ski, but what did it teach us, that if you ski enough the chair lift rides seem like they take a few seconds. god i wanna sleep.

Snowpack Essay

The snow pack in Colorado is more prone to avalanches than anywhere else in America. A reason why the snowpack is so dangerous is because of the thick heavy layers of snow on top of weak layers of snow. That causes the slab of heavy to slide creating a big avalanche. A way that these layers of snow are formed are light layer of snow that gets sunbaked and then more snow that gets wind blown and packed. Then the bottom layer gets really sugary and the top layer gets hard and packed. Then when a skier skis on top of it the slab layer slides on the sugary layer making a big slab avalanche.

day 9 week 2

Today we worked on our projects. Porter and i finished our projects.

Ninth Day.

Today we are spending the whole morning working on finishing our projects and getting everything ready for tomorrow when we will present them to the rest of the class. Hadley, Yayoi and I already finished both of our projects a few days ago, so we don't really have anything to do today. We worked on the finishing touches of both of them and now that they are completely finished, we don't really have anything left that we can do.

second thursday

Today we worked on our projecys all morning and i typed a snowpack essay. i wasnt in the best mood about doing that but its good. After lunch we have ski pe and that will make my day and be amazing.

day 1 week 1

On our first day of ISP's we talked bout everything that was going to be done in the next two weeks. We discussed all the projects and all the assignments that were going to be due. Then we worked on our projects for a little. We also went on a mission to go find a place to build the igloos. In a group we decided that the bottom of lift 7 was the perfect place for the igloos.

thursday

Today I finally feel beter. Well I was feeling better until I heard that we HAVE to write a page essay about snowpack! I had no clue that we had to write this essay, but I will try my hardest to B.S. a full page on whatever flies in my head. Kind of like I am doing now. he he

Day 8

Today we had the morning to work on our group projects and put the finishing touches on them before the presentation tomorrow. We finished our scale model earlier in the week so all we had to do was finalize the powerpoint. For the powerpoint, we just had to combine all of our information into one document and then finalize the actual slide show. It was fairly easy and didn't take too long. Once we finished the projects, we had to calculate the vertical feet and precentage ofruns our group covered on Tuesday. We also had to upload the pictures we took for the scavenger hunt. Then in the afternoon we had ski p.e.

DAMON

monday the work day. me and jack worked all day on finishing our history of snowboards. it was epic. then we.. went up stairs and figured out how to make scale model of a mountain. after serious deficulty with choosing what mountain and getting the tracing figured out. we got almost finished with our model.

ISP#8

I've caught a cold today and stayed at home. So, I'll write about the San Juan mt and the avalanches. Avalanches occur when a snow pack loses its grip on a slope and slides downhill. Typically, slopes between 20 to 30 degrees and snow packs of 34 inches or more may produce avalanches. San Juan mountain's elavation is 14,309 ft, the temprature is about 20-26°F, the depth of packed snow is about 60~100inches so the frequency of the avalanche occuring is very often. The snowpack is really heavy and the slope is steep. It said on the homepage that February is the month which avalanches occur the most. The reason is because a lot of days are

8th Day

We met at chair 7 at 9. After we met the ininstructor we went on a few runs. He had us practice some teaching techniques then we left. After lunch we got on a bus and went down valley to Wagner Custom. It was a cool shop and watching him build a ski from scratch was sick, wish i could afford some.

Wagner

Today we went to Wagner customs. It was so cool to see how they make there skis and how their factory is powered by wind and solar systems. the making of there ski's starts out with an online question review to see what kind of ski would be best for you. from there they meet with you to see what size, shape, and with. from there you pick a graphic that suits you. From there they start to build your ski. They start out with what type of would core would be best for you. Then they have a machine that cuts out the shape of the ski. After that they go to they base of the ski were they put there signature logo and the metal edges in. From there they put all together at the wetting station. There they put the ski together as a sandwich construction, this is were they put the base, core, P-Tex, fiber glass, and the top sheet together with the special glues. from there it goes into a giant press that has blocks the range in shape. these are for the tip and tail, they either give you more tip or less tip and tail. After it has become one solid piece they take it to the jig saw to cut the ski out then from there they sand the edges and put on a protection sheet on the top sheet to make sure it stays nice and glossy. So that's how Wagner makes there skis and what we learned today.

Follow up

For this blog im going to write a follow up to our snow science isp. All in all i am happy with the outcome of our isp. Not only was it a blast we learned a ton as well. I got to compleat my project that i was interested in which was nice. The opourtunities presented through this isp where exclusive and i was thankfull to participate in them. It was also nice to ski alot of the days. I learned the innerworkings of a ski lift and how to build an igkloo the history of the ski area and how to properly address someone during a ski school session.

Wagner

We got on the bus and went down valley to wagner ski factory. We went into the front room of the factory ware a bunch of sets of skis where displaide. Than we went on a tour ware a guy walked us through how they make a pair of skis. They start with just wood and work there way from there, all components are custonfitted for the buyer.

Lift mecanhics

Today we met at gissepiis at 10 we met a lift mecanhic it was sick. He took us up into lift six first, because its a non detachable lift the housing is old. Our lift guy told us that its more efficiant to run a lift from the top to the bottom. We than went to lift 12 which is detachable so the lift houses where huge and alot more efficiant and advanced. We than went to 15 because instead of a counterweight like most oldschool lifts had it had a hydrolic system instead.

Wagner

Today I finished my project while everyone was skiing. Then we headed out on the bus to Wagner Ski Company. We followed Peter around as he showed us the shop and how they make skis. I really enjoyed the design of their skis, and I would like to work for them. The only problem was the price tag....it was mad expensive.

Wed. 14, 2009

Today we all meet at the top of chair 7 around 89:10ish. We then went off with a ski instructure and got split into 3 groups. Each group was assigned something to teach everyone else. For example LUis. Porter, Holt and I had to teach everyone how to ski switch. Jayleen's group tought people how to carve while turning. Damon's group tought people how to butter weither on a snowboard or skis. After that we all got dissmissed for lunch. Jayleen, Marta and I went to Crazy Elks Pizza. Then we took a run down Milkrun and went back to the school. When we got to the school everyone got on the school bus and we went down to Wagner.

Progects

Today me and mo started our project were going to do lift mecanhics and history of telluride lifts. I looked up imformation about the lifts and the changes made over time. Than mo and me glued them and pictures of old ski maps onto a timeline. Its sick.

Wagner

Today we went up to the mountain and skied with the instructor and learn how to teach factors of skiing and be a good instructor. after lunch we went down valley to the Wagner custom ski factory. it was really cool to see the machines that make the skis. i had a lot of fun today and it was sick.

PORTER

Day Eight (afternoon)

This afternoon, we went to Placerville to go to Wagner Custom ski shop. We were shown how they make each pair of skis and where they make them. It was very interesting to see every step they go through to make one pair of skis. The workrooms they have are very small and they don't have many people working their. They make about 10-15 pairs of skis each week and they start at about $1700. The skis are completely customized and you get to choose everything that you want them to have. It was nice of the people at Wagner Custom to let us come at check out what they do.

Monday 12, 2009

On the second Monday of this ISP we worked on our projects. First Jayleen, Dana and I worked on our projects. Our first one, we made paper skis, on one of the skis we put a time line about the ghistoryof skis. On the second ski we are designing it and we are also putting labels on it. We then made a poster to go along with the skis. For our second project we are making a sketch design of ski lifts and we are also making a poster of it and the history of chair lifts in Telluride.

Day 8 Afternoon

This afternoon the class went to the Wagner Custom ski shop in Placerville to see how they make skis. The shop was really small and included a room with finished skis and two workrooms where they make the skis. We learned about the different materials they use to make skis and how they go about making the edges of the skis, the graphics and the different layers inside the skis. The whole process seemed like it was very complex and took a lot of time and energy, which is probably why the skis start at $1700. Visiting Wagner was fun and I learned a lot about the ski making process.

Wednesday 14

We all met up at the bottom of lift 7 today. We went skiing with a ski school instructor until 11. After our lunch break we all got on the bus and went to Wagner Custom. In my opinion that place was awesome. I got to see some sick skis.

Wednesday, 1/14/09

Today half of the Class went to do more PSIA training, and the rest of us worked on projects. I went down to the TCTV lab and logged some of my video. After that we went to Wagner custom boards, and had a blast doing that. I slept on the bussride back, cause I've been pretty tired today. Wasn't exactly an awesome day, but it wasnt bad.

Day Eight (morning)

This morning, we met up with Chris again to spend the morning learning more about PSIA. We went over to chair 5 again and spent the whole morning there. We were split into three groups of four and each group was given something to teach the group how to do on their skis or snowboards. I was in a group with Hadley, Jayleen and Marta and we had to teach the group how to carve. On our first ride up the lift, we were supposed to talk about how we would approach teaching the group how to carve. We decided we would demonstrate each step and then everyone would try it out. When we got to the top, the other groups demonstrated theirs first and then we did ours last. It took a really long time for every group to present their things so it was a little bit boring. We didn't do that much this morning, we just presented our things and talked about how you can become a certified instructor.

Tuesday January 13

Today we skied all day. I was in the SKi School group, i learned alot that had to do with skiing.

Monday January 12

Today we worked on our projects until lunch. After lunch we finished watching an Inconvinient Truth.

lift mechanics

Today was the best day because we got to be up on the mountain. For the first half of the day i got to ski along with the head lift mechanics guy. it was really cool to see the engines of the chairlifts and find out how they work. During the second part of the day we went on a scavenger hunt and my group found everything. over all it was a fun day.

PORTER

Day Seven

On Tuesday of the second week, we started off the day by meeting up with Chris, a ski instructor. We met at the bottom of 4 at 9:00 and set off to learn about his job and PSIA. We basically spent the whole morning on chair 5 learning all the steps and jobs that the people at PSIA have to learn. It was interesting to hear about what he did and what you have to do to become an instructor except by the end of the morning we hadn't done that much and it was not a very exciting morning. However, it was very nice of Chris to deticate his morning to teaching us. During the afternoon, we were split into groups to do a "scavenger hunt." We had to take pictures of several things on the mountain including a webcam, a ski patrol hut, etc. We finished pretty early and got to go home. It wasn't the most fun day but it was pretty good.

Day 8 Morning

This morning the class met up with Chris, a Ski Instructor, to learn more about his job and PSIA. The class was split up into 3 smaller groups, each with 4 people. Then Chris gave each group a different task to perform. The tasks were things such as teaching the class how to ride switch, how to carve, and how to butter. The group I was in had to teach the class how to carve. While performing these tasks, we worked on our communication skills and learned how the Ski Instructors teach people how to ski. Overall, it was kind of fun and I learned more about a Ski Instructor's job.

On Tuesday 13, 2009 for our ISP we went skiing all day. We first split up into three groups one making a snow cave, second group went ski training and the third group got to shadow a lift mechanic half of the day. I was in the 3rd group, we meet at 10am at the top of chair 9. We then went to Prospect and went up into the lift shaft thing. We learned how the chair lift worked. We then went to lunch and meet back up at 1:30 for a scavenger hunt. That was such a fun day to have instead of school.

Tuesday, 1/13/09

Today the class was split into three different things. We had a group looking at the ski-lift mechanics, the group doing the PSIA training, and the Snow-cave building. I was in the lift mechanics group, filming different lifts. It was realy different than I thought it'd be, I thought they might be a little engien or power box and a couch or something. Totally different than what it turned out to be. It was a bunch of odd-looking eingines, and unstable floor.

ISP#7

This morning, we met at the bottom of lift4 and started skiing with the ski instructor producing man to learn how ski instructors must teach a student and what is really important to know about skiing.
I tend to lay back when I am skiing and I know it's bad. But it is hard for me to change. Although as I learned that if you change the way you use your ankles, knees and hip, you can change to ski properly, I concentrated on those parts espcially and hoped to change.
I don't think my skiing skills got better in just one day but I was glad to know what to do, what to not do while skiing and ski.

ISP#6

Today, we stayed at school and worked on our projects and watched the documentary,"The Inconvenient Truth".
Our projects are comming along together well and it was fun to work on it.
The documentary was interesting and meant a lot to all of us. As every one of us know, the world in undergoing a big problem, global warming. I have learned a lot about it in my old school in Japan and have been trying to turn off lights when I'm not using it or recycle bottles but that was not always. I slept while I was reading a book and forgot to turn off the light or asked people to drive me to places when I can walk. I think I was forgeting the bigger influence global warming can have on us in the future and that I can contribute to it but today, the movie made me rethink about it. The actual graph was scary and shocked me. Even though we don't feel the differences everyday, it is definately occuring so I have to keep that in mind.
It's not only about one country, it's about the universe and nobody can escape from it so I will try to help slow down as possible and try to make other people to help as well.

Day 8--

This morning I finished reading the section we were assigned from the book Climb, before going to work on some of the things I need to finish up. Later today we are going to go to Wagner Customs to learn about the process of making skis as well as other design features. This will be extremely helpful when it comes to our project on skis. Tonight I plan on finishing up the other small scale ski cut out i made, adding graphics and then writing on the different parts the name of each part, to make it easier for people to understand which part is which when it comes to parts of the bindings and the actual ski its self.

Day 7--

On Tuesday we joined Chris, a Telluride Ski and Snowboard School trainer, for a morning training sesh. We learned about balance and how it is important to be balanced on all terrain, from bumps, to the park, to groomed runs. After this, we went in for lunch and then met the group again at one for a scavenger hunt on the mountain. In my group though, Morgan dropped a cliff and almost landed, but lost a ski, which ended up going under the boundary rope at the bottom of Revelation Bowl. We lost time looking for the ski, but we finished our hunt even with the delay.

Research/rebuild day-day five

On Friday we attempted to fix the igloos. After splitting into two groups we went out and made some progress on the reconstruction, which was soon destroyed by the college kids again, but no big deal. When we were not working with the igloos, we worked to research our topics more, and began to work on our projects, making two posters, one on ski design and the other on lift mechanics. Though we still do not have enough information for either of these, they should end up rather informative by the end of the second week.

Numero eight

Finally, I came to school! Although I still have the Black Lung, I feel well enough to go to school. I was a little bit confused when I entered the classroom because no one was there. It turns out that everyone went up on the mountain to follow around a ski school instructor. I hate missing skiing but I would rather be healthy. We are really lucky to be in this isp and it is really fun.

Numero Seven......

Today I woke up feeling worse than yesterday. I had the stubborn mentality that I would go to school. I got dressed and walked to the bus stop and I realized how bad I actually felt. So I ended up spending another never ending day on the couch. While people in our class were having an awesome time exploring the mountian and building snow caves, I was trapped again.......

Estoy Enfermo = (

For the past three days I have been sick. Although I am not a fan of missing school, I took monday off to hopefully get better. While every one was busting out their projects, I remained on the couch watching reruns and drinking a multitude of hot drinks. A full day of hammering down cough medicine dosses and violent coughs can make any kid crazy. I hope I will feel better so I can have some fun.

Day 7- January 13th

Today was awesome! I was in the group that followed Steve Vanstratt, a lift mechanic, and it was a true joy. I have always had an interest in how the lifts run and how much effort it requires to run a ski area. He explained to us about the history of the lifts and how they run. We actually got to go up into the motor rooms and watch a lift in action! It was really interesting. There's so many parts and different things happening at once. He also told us about the effort put into keeping the skiers safe at this resort. He has a year-round job, and it involves a great deal of inspecting lifts to make sure absolutely nothing is wrong because if there was, it could be catastrophic. After learning all about these complicated machines, we had a nice lunch break and then continued our day with a scavenger hunt. It was a great way to end the day. I definitely feel honored to have had this opportunity with such an experienced person. It was a great learning experience about something that really appeals to me.

7th day

A small group of us met at lift 4 so that we could go to a ski school. The school wasn't very much fun and I really didn't learn that much, I think it would have helped if he had gone into more detail about what the job is instead of teaching us beginning skiing skills. After we broke away from the class we basically went freeskiing for three hours. It was pretty sick.

6th Day

Today was the most conventional day of school we have had so far. We spent the whole day in the classroom working on our individual projects. It was nice to be able to get a lot of work done, but compared to the last three weeks it was very very boring.

Day 7

This morning a group of us listened to a Ski Instructor talk about skiing and how the ski instructors teach people how to ski. We spent most of our time on chair 5, skiing and talking on the runs. The instructor told us about the key components that a person must focus on in order to become a good skier such as balance and movement. Then in the afternoon, the whole class met up at chair 4 and split into 4 groups. Each group had to complete a list of tasks. Our group completed the tasks quickly so we were able to go home earlier than usual. For the most part, today was a fun day because we got to ski all day and there wasn't much working involved. 

day 6- january 12th

Today was the beginning of the second week of ISPs. Today, instead of going outside, we just stayed in and worked on our projects. It was nice to have some work time. We worked and worked until lunch, and then since our brains were fried, we continued and finished "An Inconvenient Truth." Such a depressing movie in my mind, but very beneficial to know what's occurring in this world of course. A slow day, but also very beneficial (in my opinion) to start really getting some of our final projects done.

ISP skiing

For the rest of the day after lunch we all meet up at the bottom of 4. From there we split into two groups to start are scavenger hunt. Are group consisted of Morgan, Holt, Dana, Nate, and i. we decided to go to Revelation boll. When we were skiing down to the bottom Morgan hit a monster drop and crashed and lost his ski. he had to call ski patrol to go get it for him. it was kind of ridiculous tho. why because they had three ski patrol belay down to get Morgan's ski. after 30 minutes we meet back up with Morgan after he got his ski back. from there Holt, Damon, Morgan and i went to go ski some drops. Damon went of this good sized drop. but when he landed he double ejected and raged dolled. but he wast the only one who crashed. Holt went off a sick cliff but when he landed he raged dolled into 5 or 6 different trees. We all got a good laugh out of it. that was basically what we did for the rest of the day.

ISP snow cave

Today Nate, Morgan, Damon, and I went out to search for the perfect snow drift to build are snow caves. We went and searched to discover a perfect snow drift at the top of 12. We decided to split into two teams. Nate and Morgan, and Damon and I. We started by digging out a small hole then from there we started to dig out a tunnel then from there we dug out the sides and then we maid the selling was next. Damon and i were busting throw the snow with no problems at all. But Morgan and Nate hit a couple of trees and a wall of dirt. it was getting later and later and we decided if we were to finish them we would need to combined them. After 10 minutes Nate broke throw to our side of the snow cave. when we were done the snow cave could fit about 5 to 10 people. So it was a grate success and that what we did this morning.

snow cave

Today Damon, Jack, Nate, Mr. young and I all went up to prospect and built two snow caves we made small entrances and shaved out the inside to make room to chill in. the digging wasn’t too hard but nate and I hit about four trees and this made it difficult to dig in the directions we wanted to. In the end we connected the two caves to make one huge one we could probably fit about 10 people in the cave and it could definitely be used to survive a cold winter night in.

ahhhhh

on the second day of the second week i still had much to learn. the second project was yet to be finished, and time was not on my side. it was pretty wierd how i was writing in the past tense, mostly because that happened then, which was actually today. there were pictures that were taken, and gnar that had been shredded. i learned some things on that day, i finally figured out where a web cam is, a bit of info that i still use to this day. the ski instructer shadowing was pretty usless, i snowboarded then, something in which ski instructers must've not known anything about, becaues nothing he told me was even partially correct. i remember being surprised to learn that we were going to do the same thing the following day, i also remember hoping that i would get "lost" in the woods, it was just to bad that i still didn't know what happened. the snow that day was sweet, but we couldv used more. one of the most important things that i learned then was that no matter how desperate i got i would never be an instructer.

Day 6

The whole day today was dedicated towards finishing our group projects, since we don't have very many other opportunities to finish them over the week. We were able to finish our scale model of Bald Mountain, Gold Hill, and Wasatch Mountain. The model turned out well and I am happy with the final product. We are also nearly finished with our second project, a powerpoint showing the December and annual snowfall in Telluride from 1970 to December 2008. All we need to do for this project is combine the individual research each of us completed. In addition to working on our group projects today, we finished watching "An Inconvenient Truth". 

Day 5-January 9th

Finally, the end of the week! This was a long week, and to end it, we will be attempting to finish our igloos. We decided to make two different groups because we thought we would get more done. I was in the first group, and when we got there, it was a depressing sight. Many of the blocks, and large portions of the walls on both igloos had been knocked down. It was pretty upsetting because we had worked so hard on them. Though we were not too excited about going back to building, we decided to get back at it. Our first group didn't make that much progress, but it wasn't too bad. After our group's time was up, we went back to the school and worked on our projects while the other group worked on the igloo. I never got a chance to see the igloo after the other group worked on it, but I'm sure they made progress. After working, we had one of the greatest things ever...ski p.e. This past week has been really fun, especially all of the outdoor activities we've been doing, and hopefully next week will be similar!

Monday of the second week

Today we spent basically the whole day working on our group projects. For the beginning of the morning, my group worked on our Telluride snowfall powerpoint. We finished that one in about an hour and once we were finished, we started working on our second one of the scale design of some mountains around us. We did Bald Mountain, Gold Hill and Wasatch Mountain. We worked on it until lunch and we were almost finished. After lunch, we finished watching "An Inconvienent Truth," then finished our project. We have finished both of our group projects so we will be ready to present on Friday.

4th day

On Thursday we begn the day by working on our projects. Allison, Jayleen and I mapped out just how we wanted to present our information and then started to scour the internet and books for information on ski lifts and ski design. Not finding much from these sources we decided that it we would have better luck on the mountain and at Wagner Customs as far as information goes, and joined the group on out walk down to the igloos. Once there we discussed just what we wanted to do as far as fixing them and then headed back to the school. After lunch we headed out for ski P.E. and were finished with the day.

Friday January 9

Friday was a long day. We worked on our projects for half of our morning. Then we went to lift 7 again to work on our igloos. We worked hard for a few hours and actually got pretty far on it and got it pretty stable but when we were taking a picture the whole igloo fell and was un reparable

monday of second week

Today we spent the whole day working on our projects. i already finished my first project on search and rescue. today luis and i built a scale model of a mini terrain park. Our base material was playdough that we had to make. for rails we used cabinet handles. it isnt quite finished but when it is it will be a good project. to finish the day we completed the inconvienent truth.

PORTER

Thursday January 8

On Thursday of the first week we focused on doing our projects. I almost finished my first one until i lost the computer. After working on our projects we went to lift 7 to see and discuss the issues of out igloos. We all thought that it was possible to finish atleast one igloo. Then we had a half day of ski P.E.

cut finger

Today we just had a half day to fix the igloos. our plan was to build it like you would with a deck of cards. then i was using the saw to shape the doorway bigger and i cut my finger. it left a cool looking mark. i couldnt go to ski pe because of the cut.

PORTER

12/01

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAYOI!
Today I stayed pretty much all day in the class finishing my project and writing made up blogs. I've just finished my progect, it is already on the wall so everyone can look at them and admire my awesome work. I could say it came out pretty good, I'm happy about it. Also we watched a movie about global warming, that I cant remember the title, but very interesting and we hsould really follow all the advices of the protagonist.

Day 4

Today was kind of a lazy day, but I enjoyed it. We stayed in school and worked on our projects. I enjoyed it beause we got to get some work done. As well as working on our projects, we took a journey back over to lift 7 to find ways to reconstruct our partially destroyed igloos. We decided we would take the blocks from one of the other igloos and put them on the biggest one. As well as finding a good plan, we began to watch the movie "An Inconvenient Truth." Many of us had seen the movie, but personally, I think it'g good to see it again to get a good grasp on what's happening in the world. I personally think it was a great to have a quiet day after having all of those activities these past few days. Hopefully we'll have some more of these.

One Project

One of my projects is ski design, We mad some paper skis, and on one of them we put a time line, and the other one we are putting the labels of skis. We also made a poster that we put information and some history about skis in the Past and present time. For example the first hickory skis were produced in Norway. The enabled people to build a thinner more flexible ski with good strenght. That happened in 1882. Also in 1948 Chris Hoerle of Torrington Connecticut created the first ski with continious, low-drag, integral steel edge, but it was never brought to market.

Ski History

For one of our projects Allison, Jayleen, and I are working on the design of skis. Part of this project is the history of making skis, which I found out, was much longer than I expected. Rock paintings and preserved skis show that hunters and trappers actually used skis over 5000 years ago. It took until 1850 for cambered skis to be invented in the province of Telemark, Norway. Nearly 70 years later in 1928, the segmented steel edge was introduced in Salxburg, Austria. It wasn't until 1946 that the first ski to use three different layered materials was introduced, and nine years later, P-tex was finally added to the design of skis. In 1990 the concept of the shaped skis we now use was finally introduced, gearing towards our generation of easy-carving skis. Even in a short version, ski history is quite extensive.

day1 week2

over the weekend i was on the mountian, i didnt learn much about snow science, however through an excruciatingly painful experience in the skate park over the weekend i found that
snow+conrete=slippery=pain. Although my elbow was on fire for a good half hour, i learned today that An Inconvienient Truth is even more painful to sit through. At least tomorrow will make up for this unspeakable tragedy. I think that he who which we do not speak of was absolutly right when he said that we need to change. however he was wrong in the sense that he dosent want to do anything he wants us to do it for him.

11/09

It's saturday, no school, but I still worked with snow. I was in Keystone, for a Super-g race that didnt go really well, but it doesnt matter. The weather was pretty cold, 5 F. I was completly freezing, and it also started snowing, until a point that it was snowing really thick. I also learnt how to pull a net, after the race finished, I've never done it in my life, and I could say they were heavy. But telluride fences are definetly heavier

9/01

I'm a bit late doing this blog, but i guess it will still be a positive writing. In the morning we were divided in two groups, both alternating their jobs. First I stayed at school untill 10.30 to do my project ( start it), about the differences between gs, slalom, super-g and downhill. After this I got with the other members of my group to the bottom of chair 7, trying to finish the igloo. We could se that big succes. With the tools that we were supposed to use was pretty hard to come to a finish. Also the basement was too big, we should have built a smaller igloo from the beginning. Next time we'll be smarter and build it in smaller proportion so we will figure out how to finish it.

This morning the class split into two groups. One group stayed at school to work on the groups projects while the other group worked on the igloos. I started work on the plan for the scale model of the Telluride Ski Resort. The drawing was difficult to make because there were a lot of contours lines to trace since the vertical drop is 4,425 feet. At 10:30 the second group went over to the Igloos to try and finish them. We made some progress by making a lot of long skinny blocks, but they seemed to be too heavy for the layer underneath that was starting to buckle and crack under the pressure. The whole thing collapsed after we had been working on it for a couple hours so we decided to go back to school. In the afternoon we had ski p.e.

5th day

On Friday, we were split into two groups. Each group was going to have a chance to work on the igloos and group projects. The group I was in spent the first portion of the morning working on our projects then after a few hours, we went over to the igloos. When the first group got back, they told us that the igloos were even smaller than they were before and that it was really hard. When we got there, there were only about 5 levels on the igloo and we were supposed to try to complete it. We spent about an hour on them until everyone was pretty over it and didn't feel like finishing it because we thought it would not be possible to put the roof on. We did as much as we could but after we took a picture, the igloo started collapsing. All of it had fallen over so we went back to school to get ready to go skiing.

4th day

On the fourth day of our ISP, we spent most of the day working on our group projects that we will present in the end of week two. My group got a fair amount of work done which is good because we don't have too much time to left to complete them. Once we worked on our projects for a while, we started watching "An Inconvienent Truth." It kept pausing so we decided to go over and check out the igloos. Once we got to the bottom of Chair 7, we evaluated the igloos and thought about what would work to try to get a roof on them. The igloos weren't as big as they were when we finished on Tuesday, so building a roof may not be very successful. Once we got back to school, we were able to get the movie to work so we watched that for a while then went off to ski p.e.

Monday, 1/12/09

Today is essentially project day. Because of the busy events that will take place throughout the second week of our ISP, the group has decided that it would be best to applicate our time to the dedication of our individual and group projects. The only reason I'm blogging now is due to the fact that I cannot work on my project until around 9:30 or so, because the TCTV lab doesn't open until then. The rest of the week seems fairly interesting, although there'll be nothing too exciting.

The Igloo: does and don'ts.

After all three groups were unsucsessful in creating a complete igloo, the teachers decided it would be best if we blog on the qualities that were put into our igloos, and the qualities that should have been there. For the personal aspect of what our group could have done better as a whole was to actually work. I remember for most of the day there were atleast two to three people gone at a time, that wouldn't come back for hours. This is probably why ours never got finnished, and why people started to take our blocks. As for the other groups, they were making it so that the igloo was oriented upwards, not slanted. As the walls stacked, they did not focus on the aspect of slanting, and the use of distributeable pressure to make the igloo lean in. Both of those factors were not being applicated in either of the two igloos. I feel, had my group pulled it together, we would have had a sucsessful igloo, as I remember specifically the amount we all stressed in the importances in the angle of the igloo. Although no one completed an igloo, I feel as though our class could have done it, but some of the time provided was not put to its full potential, and I feel as though that was the downfall of the project.

Friday, 01/09/09

Today was an uneventful day for the most part. The goal of the day was to try and finnish the igloos, and to try and work on our projects. Well, we didn't finnish the igloo, infact, when we were all taking our picture with it, the walls of the igloos collapsed. After lunch, we went skiing with our ski-P.E groups, and that was basically the day.

Better Igloos

I think the idea of igloos are a bad idea. They would be impossible to buuild in a survial situation when you are by yourself. I also think that if you had to build one it should be on a really small scale, maybe 6 feet in diameter so that the roof isn't 6 feet high. The spiral technique should also be better followed so that the walls don't go straight up.

5th Day

We worked on our individual projects for a while then half the class left to go work on igloos, the other half of the class continued to work on the individual projects. After a few hours the other half went to build igloos. After two days of working on them they were no closer to being done. In the last few minutes the igloo completely caved in.

4th Day

Because we spent yesterday at Red Mountain Mr. Young said we could come to school late. We got here at 10:30 and spent 3 hours working on our individual projects. After that we went to ski PE. It was a really laidback day.

Day 4

Today we stayed in the classroom so we could work on our group projects, blog entries, and reading. Everyone who had gone on to red mountain arrived at school around 10:30 while the rest of us arrived at 8:15. We worked until about 11:00 so we could start watching "An Inconvenient Truth", Al Gore's documentary on global climate change. We encountered some technical difficulties with the Smart Board, so we decided to go check out the igloos we had built earlier in the week. After discussing plans for how we would finish the igloos, we returned to school and continued to watch the movie until lunch time. 

Day 3

Today did not seem like a typical school day. Instead of meeting in the classroom at 8:15, everyone met at the Guiseppe's at 10:00 prepared for a day on the mountain. It was a good way to start the morning, not only because we started 2 hours later than usual, but also because we were going to learn about ski patrolling firsthand rather than out of a boring textbook. 

From the ski patrol guide who took our class, I learned a lot about the snow and weather conditions in Colorado that may lead to an avalanche, and how to locate a person caught in an avalanche with a beacon, shovel, and probe. My favorite part of the morning was watching the ski patrol guide build a snow pit to study the snow. This was the most interesting because I learned about the complexity of the snow and it's different layers. 

Day 2

We spent our day today constructing igloos at the bottom of chair 7. Before doing this project, I didn't know that you had to follow a specific process in order to build a durable and comfortable igloo. The group struggled to get the first block out of the ground but once we were successful, we found that the next few blocks were easier to extract. We also found that the two smaller knives allowed us to be more efficient and faster with our work than the single long knife. 

ISP#4

The day started off by rebuilding the igloo but it was depressing at first because someone had pushed down some of the snow blocks...
But there was also a good fact that the blocks bonded together because of the snow from yesterday.
Mr.Yowng suggested the strategy of building the igloo with thinner and wider blocks so that the bottom would not have to carry much weight. It was also a good idea because the blocks stayed together by the weight of the one next to it and balanced each other.
When I was rebuiding the igloo, I thought of the people who actually build igloos as their homes. We, for example, live in houses build with wood or bricks which are very hard and stable but Eskimos live in igloos build with snow blocks and no other things. No wires or nails. But they work out fine, they don't collaps. So I thought they must have a really important technique to build a good igoo because all our ISP group worked to build one igloo for 2days but we couldn't even finish it. I bet everybody would admit that they compromised with some parts but still, we tried hard but couldn't complete it. I was sad. I also think Eskimos teach the way they build igloos, one generation to another, very carfully and accuratly and that it is a tradition and they practice a lot.
Although we didn't finish the igloo, I was glad to try it and experience how hard it is to build one and learn how important snow can be to some people.

ISP #3

I didn't go skiing this morning so I can't write about that...
During the afternoon, I read the news articles Mrs.Andrews cut out for us that was something to do with snow.
The one I was interested in the most was about the snowfall in Telluride that made the new record scince the 1970s. I am working on the project about that and I researched all the records that was made since then. The total snowfall in winter was increasing each year but the snowfall in December was decreasing. It seems as though the snowfall is starting later and later every year. But this year, it was different. I haven't searched for the possible reason for that yet.
However, everybody tells me this is very good for Telluride because Telluride is a ski resort and they make more than 1/3 of the profit they make during the entire year in this ski season.
It's also good because people can ski on fresh snow and not man-made.
I'm excited for the ski PE this afternoon!

last day of the first week

day 5 was sic broski. i really thouhgt that we would abandon the igloos cause they looked like crap. we did some work though. we probably got another row of blocks on. also we got some of the unusable blocks out the damn way. it was a little different from the first time i did it. we focused more on getting it tighter so it didnt fall apart. the first time we made wedges so it wouldnt fall apart, which often led to disaster. also it seamed that the second time the blocks weere fitting better because we shaved them good.

2nd day of igloos

Today was our second of igloos. When we arrived they where almost compleatly destroyed. We had to rebuild them anyway and got it back to the origanal before the other group came. I hope they will get compleated today i have also started my reasuch for my progect which will be on lift mecaniacs.

Day of reasuch

Today we began in our first day of reasuch, because my projects are not finalized i instead chose to catch up on other work and to start THE CLIMB. We also started the movie AN INCOVIENENT TRUTH ive never seen it but so far its pretty good. At the end of the day we went to check the igloos, they were somewhat destroyed but they werent that bad. After that i went to spanish.

red mountain pass

On Wednesday we went to Red Mountain Pass and did an avalanche course. Before we hiked we walked to were Chris Landry monitors the weather after that we started to hike to were we would be doing tests to see if the snow is good enough to ski on. We finally reached the top. The snow was amazing to ski on.

went skiing

Today we met on top of lift 9 at gisseppis. There are two groups today the other group went to red mountain to do avalanch training. We began our day with a scavanger hunt i found a few things but there wasnt enough time to compleate it. I met up with kyle and porter and did a few runs. We than met up with ski patrol who showed us how they take snow measurments and took us inside a patrol shak. After that we went to find beacons in there beacon garden. After that we went up to genovieve to look at ware the inbounds avalanches. We than skiied down to a place out of bounds ware our patrol member showed us how to dig a proper snow pit. There is a ton of snow. After that we broke up to free ski and than met back in Youngs room at two.

day 5

Today I feel really sick. Even if I do get to ski, I might not because my throat is killing me. I finished my project and I have to type this blog........blah.....I do not know what to type because nothing is happening. I hope I will feel better soon. Also we have to finish our igloos, which will be cold and tedious.

day 4

Today was another half day of skiing. I woke up expecting to have a wonderful day, but infact I couldn't ski. So we spent 50% of the day busting out our projects and doing work. We started to watch An Inconvinient Truth (which I dreaded from the first 100 times I saw it) but then we left to work on our hopeless igloos. When the day was over I was super exited to ski beneith the blue bird skies. Lucky for me my USSA card didn't fully work. (I have no clue why, because I got my card.) So fortunetly for me I got to sit and do nothing because I couldn't ski. SWEET!!!!

um yeah. and then we got to ski

yesterday we did almost nothing. because us cool kids hiked all day we got to show up at school at 1030. then we sat around for like an hour then we walked all the way over to our igloos and then walked all the way back. once we got back we watch some poetic movie that was showing all these graphs that tried to scare you to think we are all going to die because of global warming. but it was all good because we got to ski after sitting though the movie.

red mountain pass shred.

2 days ago 6 of us showed up at school at 730 to head to the top of red mountain pass where we met up with chris, a pro in snow research and snow conditions in the future. we aslo got to meet mike a mega awesome dude who is a backcountry guide. we started off hiking up to chirs' snow evaluation station. there we learned how the information is aquired and what it is used for. we learned how the dust and pollution affect the snow that inreture affects everyone who uses the san juan run-off for their farms and stuff. once we were finished with chris we headed up the mountain with mike and after a bit of hiking we stopped for lunch during this time mike told us what the weather was sopposed to be for that day acording to the weather research. it turned out that it was completly wrong. once we had finished our meals we began to make a av. pit. we assesed the the snow and discovered that we were good to go. then we hiked up a little more and locked and loaded. from there we skied down to the car. it was awesome.

ISP Days

The last few days have been a blast. I didnt get to build the igloos because of a test I had to make up. Tuseday night, Mr young calls me and says were going backcountry skiing "you wanna go". Well of course iam like helz ya. There was me and 4 other students that went. Once we got up to the Uray/silverton pass, we meet our tour guid. He was from the mountian goat ski guids company. He told us about avalanches and how they can be avoided. we hiked a good 1000 feet befor we started to ski down, and that was the best part. fresh pow baby. On thursday we checked up on our igloos and watched a movie. Its been a good week.

thursday

Today we just spent some time workink on our projects. i got my firt one finish. it is about search and rescue. After that we figured out a plan to fix our igloos and complete them. then we came back and watched part of the inconvienent truth. finally we had ski pe which was amazing.

PORTER

ISP

Today we got to start school late becuase we were so wiped out from the other day. But today was a chil day. everyone was just working on there projects and then we went and looked at the igloo's to see if we should finish them. After that we went to ski P.E. and we ended the day with it.

ISP

Yesterday a group of us went to red mountain to learn about avalanche control. we met up with the director mike of the avalanche control on red mountain. We hicked up about a 100 meters to a station that this machine takes data in on how much particles are in the air. then from there we hicked the rest of are way up to were we had lunch and test the snow to see if it would slid. After that we hicked further up the hill to the point were we would ski down. The hole day was such a grate experience and was a blasted too.

#1 in da hood g

day 4 was long and moderatly boring. i got one of my projects done thouhg, so i guess something good came out of it. im not looking forward to this movie. al gore sucks. there is a reason he lost to bush. he is so full of crapizzl it aint even funny. why did he make this movie, its like he wants to scare everyone. and by the way it isnt my generations job to figure this crisis out, we did't make the problem, and anyway itll be to late by the time we can do anything, its the job of the people who are currently in positions to do things. we have to act no, you cant just use my generation as your freaking scapegoat b.

Thursday 1/8/09

Today has been/will be an uneventfull day up until lunch. Because of Ski P.E., and the shortened time, the snowscience ISP will most likely work on their projects for most of the time. That, and watch a part of the fil "An Inconvienient Truth." Although boring, today will be usefull for working on projects, or in my case, fixing my camera. Some people are saying they're almost done with their projects, however, I will not be done until the wenesday the day before we present, because I will have to film as much content as I can get. For now, I'll continue to listen to my iPod and mess around with my camera. I'm most definitely looking forward to after luch, were I'll be skiing until the mountain closes.

Wednesday January 8

Today on the third day of ISP I got to sleep in and go skiing. We got the opportunity to meet up on the mountain and ski. A ski patrol named Peter took us to Beacon valley and showed all of us how to use beacon's and how to find someone if they were buried in an avalanche. After beacon valley we went to Prospect Bowl and got to ski Geneveive, we all had a short lesson on avalanches and told us about how someone got caught in an avalanche on that run. Then we went to this area where no one had gone and the ski patrol showed us the layers of the snow and some ways to tell if the snow is safe or dangerous.

Tuesday January 7

On Tuesday of my ISP we built Igloo's. Our whole ISP went to the bottom of lift 7 and built Igloo's. We used saws to cut out blocks from the snow that measured 30 by 30 by 60. My group started out fast and it seemed that we would finish it but when we had to make the roof our whole igloo started to fall apart. We spent all day on these igloo's but none of the three groups finished.

day 3

today i skied a lot, from 9 till 15.30. It had been a very long day but i gues the training was really good, it helped me a lot. The weather wasnt that cold, and also the snow was pretty good. It was a slalom training, I dont really like slalom, but I survived. I'm really happy I got to train today, Italian school would have never allowed this, Italian school hates ski racing, and that's not good at all. I feel heaven here, where school kinda like it!

3rd day

Today we spent most of the day on the mountain. We met up with a man from ski patrol and he showed us what devices they use to measure the amount of new snow, density of the snow, etc. I learned a lot about more avalanches as well. I learned a lot more about the ways avalanches form and the tools needed in order to successfully save someone if they are unfortunately stuck in an avalanche. I think the most thrilling part about today was that we weren't sitting a the classroom all day. It was fun to get out on the mountain and experience what most ski patrollers do on a daily basis.

3rd Day

We arrived at school at 7:30 today in order to have enough time at Red Mountain, between Ouray and Silverton. The first thing we did when we got to the mountain was get basic training of avalanche beacons. Then one of our guides, Chris Landrey, explained all the devices that were located at the base of the the mountain. One machine sent information of the weather to NASA. The others measured wind, snowfall depths and finally the amount of water the basin shed. After we were through with that another guide, Mike Barton, began to lead us up the mountain. We climbed for a while and he explained avalanche sciences to us throughout the hike. We stopped to have lunch and dig a snow pit. From the pit we were able to examine the snow layers and determine the probability of an avalanche ocurring. We climbed a little higher, strapped on skis and went down the mountain.

day 1

dang it! i forgot to post a blog the first day, so i guess i can still write one. i am looking forward to doing things invloving the snow. i cant wait to build an igloo. it looks like itll be uber easy to get the first block out and make a roof, seriously though, it looks easy.i am so glad my isp dosnet suck. i hope we get to ski sometime. im also glad that this isnt the lame kind of snow science. i am so done with learning about microorganisms. the avalanche saftey stuff could be beneficial in case i ever go backcountry. their should also be a snoman building day, where everyone groups up to make a giant snowman. we should also go see an avalanche.