Grand County will be plowing routes on the mountain today and will get to Geyser Pass Trailhead later today or tomorrow. Be advised that the gate will be closed whenever they commence. For now the road is currently snow covered, rutted, and drifted with more than a foot of new snow on it though several vehicles pushed through yesterday afternoon. 4x4 and probably chains are a must, and even then it will be a challenge to reach the parking lot.
Wow, did we really get a shot! Yesterday's storm put down 19" of new snow in Gold Basin bringing totals since Friday up to 29". WSW winds averaged 25 mph along ridge tops during the first part of the storm before tapering off and shifting to the NW. Winds are currently light and it's a frigid 6 degrees at 10,000'. Today we'll see mostly sunny skies, high temps at 10,000' in the single digits, and westerly winds averaging 10-15 mph. We'll see drying conditions over the next couple of days before the next system moves in on Thursday.
It's officially game on for winter recreation in the La Sals but it's also dangerous. Almost 30" of snow since Friday has been dumped on top of our weak, fragile base and it isn't rocket science to know that this has created an unstable situation. In addition, trail breaking today will be arduous, and low angle slopes that are safe enough to ski will be difficult to get moving on.
The following video was shot around noon yesterday, an additional 13" of snow has fallen since then.
