Stardate 2016.129

A Grand Mesa Birthday
Snowcatcher and I spent a heart-filled birthday and Valentine's Day on Colorado's West Slope. We spent Snowcatcher's birthday on the Grand Mesa and then spent the evening in a rose petal- and candle-filled room. Our intention was to ski Sunday as well. However, stormy conditions on the passes had us heading home a bit early. Following are some pics from the weekend under a big sky at 10,600 feet in elevation. In the following pic, a pickup in the upper left can be used for scale. Albeit the snowpack has settled a bit, depths stilled averaged 4 to 5 feet.




Groomed trails exist for classic cross-country skiing and skate skiing. Off trail skiing abounds too.



The Mesa having been warm and without fresh snow for a week or so, existing snow was beginning to take on spring conditions a month early. This will change; it's still February. Our big month for snow accumulation is March. Nonetheless, as seen below (blocky fracture of snow), there was a bit of firnspeigel (sun crust) developing.




... and baby blue was the color of her eyes.
Baby blue like the Colorado skies...
-George Strait




A heart for two!




The Flake Master at work!





Pinwheels can result when dry snow (cold winter snowpack) becomes wet (melt) for the first time. Pinwheels are more common farther into late-winter/spring when the snowpack is taking on spring-thaw conditions and becoming saturated. Pinwheels also are called "rollerballs" or "snow snails". They indicate a good time NOT to be on steep slopes. We easily stayed off steep slopes this trip.






That's it for this round. Check back. I always have some sort of adventure to share.

Adios

Stardate 2014.652

Missoula Smokejumpers

The Missoula Smokejumpers are elite wildland firefighters who parachute into isolated areas to fight fires. Their base and main training area is Missoula, Montana. The organization also provides tours of their compound. We visited the training center prior to hitting the road east.



Except for parachutes, they put together and sew their own gear in their own sewing room.



When not in use, their parachutes are hung from the ceiling in the parachute room.



In the parachute folding room, the long tables are used to fold the parachutes. The jumpers do not fold their own chutes. Several master jumpers/folders fold all of the chutes.


Former Montana residents, and guardians of the parachute folding room, watch your every move.



Above is a DC 3, fueled, loaded and ready to fly. Supplies to be dropped are secure and ready to go. Our tour was rather small and we were allowed aboard the aircraft for a look around.



A senior Smokeumper gave a small presentation on what takes place just prior to, and during, exit from the airplane. Some jumpers are on static lines (shoot pulled open as they exit) and drop under round chutes. These jumpers will exit the plane about 1,000 feet above the drop zone. The parachutists not on a static line exit the airplane at about 3,000 feet. They have more maneuverable rectangular chutes and drop faster than the round chutes. However, they don’t freefall; they have a streamer chute attached to them for stability until they open their main chutes. They can't freefall very well since they are heavily laden with gear.



Most of the aircraft used to drop slurry are under contract with the Forest Service. They also have a base in Missoula. Above is a slurry bomber at the retardant loading area.



I think this jet is also a slurry bomber; it was parked at the slurry loading station for a while. This was a fun tour and very low key. Firefighters were milling around in most of the rooms while we were there. Many were packed and ready to jump that day.

Next stop, hey, Boo Boo – Yellowstone!

Adios