![]() When they could speak they yelled, “CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?”Īcross the face of the ski area no one could get to the bottom without choking, coughing and spitting snow. They were covered with snow, dumbfounded, speechless and caught in the sheer ecstasy of the moment. They hurried down for another lift to the top and ran into another patrol team. One of Jay’s partners came down and hollered, mostly out of fear, while gasping for breath, “I couldn’t see, this is unbelievable!” ![]() This was not just “face shots” like skiers often get at Wolf Creek, it was continuous and choking and blinding. The fluffy snow rose up his chest, into his face and over his head. That was enough for Jay, and he made a ski cut across one of the slopes. Craters were blown in the powder but it was too light to avalanche! They were amazed to find the explosives went off and nothing happened. The patrol went to the top and began blasting avalanche paths. That meant it was ninety-six percent AIR! “Wow,” Thought Jay, “This is one light powder storm - and it is still snowing.” It was DEEP and getting DEEPER! “HUMmmm,” Jay realized, the snow was less than four percent water. It came out at 7/10s of an inch of water. Jay was inline to measure and monitor the snow before the patrol used explosives to remove possible avalanches. One of these was Jay Gallagher and he related the following story: The snow was discovered early in the morning by the first shift of the Wolf Creek Ski Patrol. ![]() On a quiet Tuesday night, some years ago, such conditions occurred and a snow fell of most unusual proportions. The land, Wolf Creek Pass, has long been known for the earliest and best powder snow and for “the most snow in Colorado.” It can get very cold at the crest of the Continental Divide and when a moist cloud moves overhead, tiny flakes condense and drift down as powder snow. Once upon a time in a land far far above the plains and valleys of mother earth there was an amazing snowfall that few people ever experience. ![]()
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