Mountain Canopy

Tis the season for rock skis! The US is seeing low snow this year.  Snow reports for California East to Colorado are barely out of the teens and just starting to increase. Some areas are reporting up to 40inches. Farther north in Wyoming through the Canadian Rockies and in BC things look better and in some cases awesome. New Mexico is doing good too.  I am referencing www.snocountry.com  here… you can see for yourself.

What does this mean for the average skier like myself? Keep those old rock skis mounted. Leave those wide reverse camber skis at home for the next month no need to tear them up.  Be careful out there: no need to get injured in bad conditions.

The real question here is what will happen with our water supplies?  Last year we had the 25year record for highest run off and a huge snowpack.  Looking at the reservoirs:  Lake Powell rose 51ft last year between April 15^th and August 1^st but today (Jan 12^th 2012) is only about 14ft higher than it was today 2011.  It is currently at 61 feet below its full level and at 65% of full capacity.  Lake Mead has been on the continual rise for 14months now, and is 47ft above its level one year ago today.

Looking at the snowpack: the Upper Colorado Basin ended last ski season at 250% of its average snowpack. Today it is at 60% compared with ~140% for last year in January.

Check out: www.water-data.com to do your own investigation of what our snowpack is doing.  Look at the graphs yourself!

What does all this mean for UpSkiing? Well: nothing new! We will be out again this year exploring more locations inside and outside of Colorado.  We are looking forward to the longer days ahead and awesome wind that springtime brings.

Cheers – Kevin

The final testing for the next generation of UpSki Equipment was discussed and evaluated this fall at the Walter’s Hut meetup on Shrine Pass Colorado. Kevin Passmore announced that a small production run of the new Carbon Fiber Control assemblies would be complete by the time an initial production run of 5 canopies was to begin in Early 2011. John Stanford took the test canopies back to his shop for refitting and analysis. Phil volunteered to track down suitable reels for use in the new control assemblies.

As of mid-November all modified canopies have been returned to Colorado complete with upgrades for the Harnesses and control center swivels. John worked hard ahead of his and Sara’s trip to Patagonia to complete repairs on existing canopies as well. Early November Snow in the high country has opened the back country to UpSkiing. Below is a small slide show of the meeting, testing and recent equipment modifications. We encourage anyone who is interested in purchasing a new canopy to discuss color choices with us before material is purchased for the initial production run. The two test canopies are available for evaluation in the field from our Dillon or Glenwood Springs, Colorado locations. Below is a brief slideshow of equipment testing and upgrades.

Kevin Passmore, John Stanford and Phil Huff will meet to finalize the canopy, control center and harness innovations built and tested for the past two seasons. The meeting will be at Walter’s Hut on Shrine Pass in early September 2010.

Would not call it brown sugar exactly, the wind deposited layers of sand that came to the surface on our May 29th, 2010 UpSki on Independence Pass. It did look a lot like Carmel swirls especially the last few pictures in the slide show. There is a video of this slide show with some actual video footage which shows Kristie packing up in some pretty strong gusts.  A couple of kite guys were headed back in when we arrived and they caught this video of  us with some fun comments.

Jon is just one of those naturals with a video camera and You Tube. I was there with the B1 test canopy and it was a good day with lots of very solid gusts, some in the 40 to 50 mph range according to the wind gauge at Loveland Ski area (which was almost a thousand feet lower at 11,970 ft and on the lee side of the ridge). His video diary of the event is fun and tells the story. The snow was ripe corn with some pretty good skiing but, according to Jon, much better riding.  Still it was an UpSkiing kind of day and as Jon’s video shows, topped all other fun.

Notes on the B1: I had a packing inversion on start up that cleared when the wind got into the correct channel, Jon’s video shows me starting to inflate but he cut out the part where I spent a couple of minutes getting the inversion out. This was caused by starting the “safety chaining” of the lines too far from the lower canopy band.  The new grid system has worked well and the tendency to start the daisy chain down the lines a bit can be easily adjusted.  The canopy collapsed quickly, as can be seen in the video, even in the very brisks winds on top.  John Standford, Kevin Passmore and I have discussed some minor changes we will incorporate this summer but the B1 and B2 designs are pretty much good to go.  Kevin’s new carbon-fiber control centers are great.

Kevin Passmore and his friends spent a couple of afternoons testing the new prototype recently above Janet’s cabin near Seral Pass South of Copper Mountain, Colorado. The friends took time away from BC hut adventures to photograph and video Kevin as he tried out the latest UpSki design from John Stanford.  John and I were in Dallas together at the time and got some fresh insights by cell phone from Kevin on the sunny porch at the Hut. Those comments sent us back to John’s construction notes to reflect on how to adjust future versions.

Kevin took the new canopy back to his home and weighed components carefully at the lab where he built the carbon fiber control systems. The big weight reduction was in a control center which weighted over 4 pounds and now weights 2.6 pounds. The canopy weight, because of the “Zero-P” coating, is heavier per square yard but reductions in other component weights have kept that even. Kevin, John and I have all weighted the new canopy at around 10 pounds (ranging from 9.6 pounds to 10.3 pounds) with full rigging and control center.

Kevin Passmore testing above Janet

Kevin reports that the new anti-inversion line attachment system is working well with some length modifications needed in the final version. That was my observation as well.

Weighted components of Test canopy 2009-II

Kevin says the canopy still had some water on it from melted snow.

Goat Mountain is the local name for the NorthWest facing flank of 13,200 foot Mt. Sniktau and it is just a couple of miles NE of Loveland Pass, Colorado. When the spring winds stay West and North of West this face is a great place for UpSki after Loveland Basin closes. Why wait until after Loveland Basin closes? Something about the Avalanche Path that forms Goat Mountain. Bud Robinson and Kevin Passmore joined Phil Huff to test out the latest equipment from John Stanford. Kevin is completing work on the lightweight backcountry version of the control center. John’s modified venting system weights less then half of the old version and even the larger prototype weighted less then a conventional canopy.

This spring the new prototype grid on the special “stealth” orange and blue prototype canopy got a workout in ridgetop winds that hit 40 mph one day and close to 50 mph the second. It preformed really well.

Bud and Tania got married on Saturday August 30th, and UpSki was well represented. Not only was the toast given by an UpSkier Trey but the Pig was roasted by Brian and the cake was baked by lady friend of Pete. The Groom was none other than Bud Robinson and the Marrying guy was me, Phil Huff! Tania was the incredible together Bride who seemed to handle pretty well Bud’s abduction for 30 hours, at 4 am, being whisked off to LV by Chris, Trey, Brian and a dozen others.  pretty well. After all, he was back several minutes before the rehearsal dinner.

John and Sara are in Alaska where they have kept us posted and amazed by John’s excellent photography skills and Sara’s equally hot computer communications. I talked with John from Talkeenta air strip where I briefed him on the history behind K2 aviation and Kitty Banner.

Kevin Passmore bought an UpSki, sight unseen, from an online listing this spring. He had seen one used near Loveland Pass 4 years ago and wanted to add this unique equipment to his quiver of Kites and backcountry tools. He got a great deal when an almost brand new, shiney, red-yellow-blue canopy arrived which he calls his Carousel Canopy. Kevin and Phil returned to Independence Pass and the slopes of Twining Peak Sunday, June 15, 2008 to consider how the UpSki works in light winds.

The forecast was for almost no wind, 5 to 13 mph, and a poor wind direction (West) for Twining Peak. Kevin and I thought that by skinning up part way we could get into the stronger gusts of the mid-day thermals. We got some rides and made it up to 13,500 by canopy. Kevin tried out Greg Dietl’s “Big Green” oversized canopy and enjoyed the “extra” power of a bigger canopy in light winds.

Kevin is a mechanical engineer who works with carbon fiber fabrication techniques and has an extensive history with Kite’s and Kite Skiing. He is tossing ideas around with John and I about making the UpSki lighter and has reviewed the “mountaineering prototype build by John”. He immediately replaced most of the parts making up the control center with carbon fiber parts and gained a noticeable weight saving. Along with recent innovations from “Cobbler John’s” shop the new mountaineering canopy is beginning to take shape. Slideshow follows.

Twining Peak reaches 13,777 feet and at least one UpSkier made it to 13,770 feet on Saturday June 7th, 2008. UpSkiing to the Summit is not usually the objective and when Kevin Passmore guided his UpSki up the final Summit pitch on Twining Peak it was just a fun photo op. The last UpSkier to ski up the final pitch was probably Bob Linneman in the late 1980′s. Most of the day was spent racing up and down the south flank of Twining. Betsy Cuthbertson was skiing her “pink and blue” canopy and a picture of it made the Aspen Times on Tuesday. The Large Green Greg Dietl model which John Stanford had rebuilt last month worked well in the strong winds of the summit.  

Kristie Huff got some of the best rides of the day including a 30 second ascent that just ripped.  Jon Harrington amazed the crowded trailhead parking lot by UpSkiing the more visible peak just above the top of the Pass before joining us on Twining Peak. Kevin Passmore pulled out his 6 meter kite and ripped up the flats down by the highway.