Give Us 6 Inches, and We’ll Schuss a Meter

By:  Greg
January 11, 2011


Last week we put in our time studying the mountains of New Hampshire in order to schuss high alpine powder safely. For that trip we pulled a page out of the JHSP’s book, and even esoteric metrics such as miles-of-wind were calculated and considered in our avalanche computations. Indeed, after hours of number crunching, a day of reconnaissance, and an evening of libations, in the end we arrived at New Hampshire’s magic mathematical secret: 1 inch=1 foot. For this trip we just tweaked a few parameters in our equations in order to tailor the calculations to Vermont. Then after we re-ran the simulations we discovered another surprising mathemagical fact: 6 inches (ok ok… 5.5)=1 meter. Brilliant!
Ben discovers a mathemagical fact

Indeed, as reported by the National Weather Service (who were relayed the fact by the WCAX engineers), Mount Mansfield was only the recipient of 5.5 inches. Luckily we knew a mystical equation that would allow us to schuss more.
Greg does his homework

It truly was a great day to perform complex mathematical analysis… and get some faceshots.
Ben performs complex mathematical analysis

But mostly it was a great day for faceshots. Indeed, the day was oh- so-close to being VTah 6… but alas we’ll give this trip the sub-title of “VTah 5.5″ in honor of how much snow supposedly fell on the mountain ;)
Berge gets a faceshot

As usual, a little fudging of the numbers was required to obtain our desired results (you’re welcome Black Diamond)…
a little fudging of the numbers

…but for the most part the results were an accurate representation of the facts (and snow) on the ground.
accurate description of the snow on the ground

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Read about the author:   Greg
Enjoy this TR? Read another: TR: The (Other) Winter Carnival — Part I

Related Stuff:

  1. TR: Give Us 6 Inches, and We’ll Schuss a Meter
  2. Give Us an Inch, and We’ll Schuss a Foot
  3. TR: Give Us an Inch, and We’ll Schuss a Foot
  4. Quick Update: Strip of 7-10 inches likely across much of Vermont.
  5. TR: Stowe April 28th, 2010 – 20 to 30 inches

14 Comments

  1. Les
    wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 3:34 pm  
    1

    oh, how I hate you guys so sometimes

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Greg
      wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 8:03 pm  
      2

      sorry dude :/

  2. colin_extreme
    wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 3:47 pm  
    3

    great pics as usual. it must pay to know these lines so well

    still some monsters hiding beneath!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Greg
      wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 8:02 pm  
      4

      yeah it helps. in certain spots we’re pretty much there, and i’ve started to charge. but i really need to know those spots. elsewhere around the mountain though still survival skiing. we’re getting close though!!

  3. chris
    wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 4:21 pm  
    5

    Nice work guys! Wish i was getting some footy of that goodness. Hopefully it keeps coming down.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Greg
      wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 8:00 pm  
      6

      yeah it would have been great to get some video yesterday. oh well… jesum. i really need to hook up with evan. i’ve been so darn busy recently feel bad for not having given him call

  4. Jesse
    wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 6:11 pm  
    7

    Excellent stuff Greg. Indeed yesterday was a good day.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Greg
      wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 7:59 pm  
      8

      thanks dude! Were you out shooting too? Another day of shooting fish in a barrel ;D

  5. Sam
    wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 6:14 pm  
  6. Porter Haney
    wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 7:04 pm  
    • christian
      wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 7:51 pm  
      11

      i think we need to take that sit-ski away from ben. he’s stealing all the faceshots.

    • Greg
      wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 7:58 pm  
      12

      christian this would have been PERFECT for “the shot”…. i might whip up a test in GIMP

  7. icelanticskier
    wrote on January 11th, 2011 at 9:00 pm  
    13

    love the sno/blo. .6 gave me up to a foot on east side today. love them nwesterlies!

    nice stash g!

    rog

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  8. PNW Slayer
    wrote on January 12th, 2011 at 2:27 pm  
    14

    Why with all this powder aren’t you guys jumping off of anything? Getting too old? Do you need us to come back east and show you where all the drops are again?

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
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