Category Archives: CAIC

Gathering Observations to Manage Hazards & Ride Powder

Matt Wade, of Peak Mountain Guides, wrote up this nice piece after teaching a recent avalanche course. To learn more about Peak Mountain Guides, visit here

Tap, tap, tap. . . . Matt’s pencil rapped against the table and his brow furrowed. “Wait, wait, say that again – surface hoar forms when the relative humidity is high at the snow surface?” It was the beginning of a Level 2 Avalanche Course with Peak Mountain Guides and we were beginning a quest to become good observers of all things avalanche: weather, snow, and avalanche activity. It would be brain bending at times, but most importantly it would help us ride good… Read more

Arapahoe Basin Beacon Bowl and Apres Ski Party

Arapahoe Basin Beacon Bowl & Après Ski Party

Arapahoe Basin, CO – February 4, 2012   Arapahoe Basin will be hosting the tenth annual Beacon Bowl and après ski party Saturday, February 11, 2012.  The event will benefit the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

The Beacon Bowl is an event developed by A-Basin’s ski patrol to teach and test skills for the backcountry.  Patrol will start the day at 9:15 a.m. with the Beacon Bowl competition.  This event is an avalanche transceiver competition designed for both recreational and professional users.

Free beacon clinics with A-Basin ski patrol and Back Country Access will take place from 9:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. An avalanche… Read more

CAIC Benefit Bash breaks record.

The numbers are in from the CAIC Benefit Bash, held Nov. 12 in Breckenridge. The fourth annual fundraiser grossed $72,000 in revenues and netted $63,000 for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. This might be the biggest avalanche center fundraiser in North America, right up there with the Utah Avalanche Center fundraiser held every fall in Salt Lake.

The CAIC Benefit Bash was presented by BCA, Voilé, La Sportiva, New Belgium Brewery, and Vail Resorts.  Held at the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge, it hosted 1300 people. Organizers Aaron Carlson and Joe Vandal gave away over $20,000 in product, had 63 silent auction items on hand, and broke all  previous fundraising records… Read more

La Nina: Part 2 of “The Big 1-2″

This is the time of year when diehards are making their plans for hut trips,
road trips, and powder chasing. My advice: go north. According to Joe Ramey
from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center in Grand Junction, CO, we’re in for
a second year of La Nina. That was his conclusion at the recent Colorado Snow and
Avalanche Workshop in Leadville.

According to Joe, ocean temperatures in the equatorial East Pacific (off the
coast of Peru) are colder than average. This means the jet stream will most
likely swing through the Pacific Northwest and favor the northern mountains–instead of coming straight in
from the west as it does in El… Read more

Avalanche Workshops Initiate the Winter Season

If you’re looking for a good way to transition from your stumbling summer thought pattern into your winter thinking cap, there may not be a better jump start for your lobes than to attend an avalanche workshop. Avalanche workshops (like ISSW) have been around for years and are attended by avalanche professionals, patrollers, ski/mountain guides and anyone looking to expand their knowledge of snow. Topics cover such wide topics as: fracture mechanics, winter weather prognosis and recaps of historical avalanche events. In the shadows of the grandfather event, the International Snow Safety Workshop, many regional one-day events have sprouted up to address new findings and trends in specific regions of… Read more

BCA’s Team Airbag wins DoJoe rando race

BCA’s Team Airbag won the men’s Tag Team division this week at the DoJoe Memorial Uphill-Downhill Race at Eldora Mountain Resort near Boulder, Colo.

2010 Corn Harvest – A Benefit for the CAIC

April 24, 2010 – Loveland Ski Area

It’s more than a benefit, it’s a kickass good time with old friends and new at Loveland Ski Area. Hawaiian shirts are encouraged (we’ll get you lei’d). Your registration includes lunch plus a couple of beers at the deck party at the end of the day. All proceeds go to the CAIC. Registration is $30 for season pass holders and $60 (includes lift ticket) for non-pass holders.

Please visit cornharvest.org for additional information.… Read more