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Summer weather in the mountains (and not dying)
By Jenn Fields

The first time I thought I was going to die that day was when the rock I pulled on came off in my hand.

I was 1,500 feet up Skywalker Couloir, unroped. The direct finish up South Arapaho Peak was only kind of in. I was the first to venture onto the rock to scramble to the final section of snow.

After a big exhale as I pushed the rock back into place, I called down: "It's kind of rotten."

It was late in the season. We'd started late that morning. Companion Ben -- who had just moved here from Connecticut to marry friend Genny --- wasn't acclimatized. Though fit, he was moving slow.

We were breaking the rules during monsoon season.

A monsoon is just a change of wind patterns, Joel Gratz told me. Gratz is a meteorologist and the pontificator behind Coloradopowderforecast.com. In mid and late summer, he says, winds change to bring moist air from Mexico (from the Gulf and Pacific) to Colorado.

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News Source: Boulder Daily Camera

ENVS News Category: Media Story

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About:

- Faculty Focus -

Lisa Barlow

Global Change, Intro to Geology, Intro to Environmental Studies, Campus and the Biosphere (on-campus sustainable solutions consulting), sustainability studies

- Featured Image -

Precipitation gauge on Niwot Ridge