Happy New Year! On this week’s show we discuss the current State of the Snowpack and how it will hopefully change soon, highlight some local events in the Community Calendar, and then sit down for a chat with Maddie Crowell, local ski guide, avalanche educator, and couloir hunter. Maddie gives us an update on the variability of snow conditions above treeline and why the couloirs of the San Juans make for some excellent ski mountaineering. 

THINK SNOW! 

Instagram: @sanjuansnowcast
Email: [email protected]
Venmo: @Chris-Dickson

Thanks as always to my sponsors!  
- Mountain Trip
- Silverton Avalanche School
- The Peter Inglis Avalanche Education Fund
- Jagged Edge Mountain Gear 
- Telluride Mountain Club

Music on this week’s show: 
“Ghetto Funk” by Queens Community Show Band
“Rugged Walk” by The Rugged Nuggets
“Cool Reggae Party” by Juanitos 
“Mondo Whack” by Juanitos

Happy Winter Solstice! 

In this episode, we lament our slow start to the season, and the shallow and weak snowpack… but then see a glimmer of hope in the form of a Santa Slammer Holiday Snowstorm that arrives on Saturday! The main focus of this episode, however, is RADIOS. We’ll talk about the new channels for the Telluride Radio Program, and I’ll share some tips for proper radio etiquette so we can all level up our backcountry radio game. THE CHANNELS HAVE CHANGED. Make sure you and your partners know about it and use the new channels if you play in the Telluride backcountry. Thanks for your help in getting the word out. 

For more information, go to www.telluridemountainclub.org/radios 

Happy Holidays and THINK SNOW!

Instagram: @sanjuansnowcast
Email: [email protected]
Venmo: @Chris-Dickson

Thanks as always to my sponsors!  
- Mountain Trip
- Silverton Avalanche School
- The Peter Inglis Avalanche Education Fund
- Jagged Edge Mountain Gear 

Music on this week’s show: 
“Ghetto Funk” by Queens Community Show Band
“Funky Christmas” by Snoop Dog
“Cool Reggae Party” by Juanitos 
“Mondo Whack” by Juanitos

It’s December, and its finally looking like Winter! On this week’s episode, I recap last week’s storm and take a peak and the weather before taking a DEEP DIVE into electromagnetic interference and it’s effect on our avalanche transceivers. It’s time to get technical and make sure we’re tuned up and tuned in for the Winter to come. 

THINK SNOW! 

Instagram: @sanjuansnowcast
Email: [email protected]
Venmo: @Chris-Dickson

Thanks as always to my sponsors!  
- Mountain Trip
- Silverton Avalanche School
- The Peter Inglis Avalanche Education Fund
- Jagged Edge Mountain Gear 

Music on this week’s show: 
“Ghetto Funk” by Queens Community Show Band
“Rugged Walk” by The Rugged Nuggets
“Cool Reggae Party” by Juanitos 
“Octopussy” by Juanitos
“Mondo Whack” by Juanitos

Coming atcha with a quick bonus episode this week! This one highlights some Community Calendar events before diving into some gear talk with Kyle Siegel of Raide.

I’ll be back next week with a proper Snowcast episode all about PRE-SEASON PREP, the  State of the Snowpack, and, of course, a look at the weather! 

Music on the show: 
“Ghetto Funk” by Queens Community Show Band
“Cool Reggae Party” by Juanitos 
“Rugged Walk” by The Rugged Nuggets

IT SNOWED! Finally. In Episode 2, we dig into a recap of this past weekend’s storm before exploring the TOP TEN COOLEST THINGS I learned while attending 3 different Snow and Avalanche Workshops this past October. Thanks for tuning in and THINK SNOW! Our next storm arrives on Friday of this week.

Instagram: @sanjuansnowcast
Email: [email protected]
Venmo: @Chris-Dickson

Thanks as always to my sponsors! 
- Mountain Trip
- Silverton Avalanche School
- The Peter Inglis Avalanche Education Fund

Music on this week’s show: 
“Ghetto Funk” by Queens Community Show Band
“Rugged Walk” by The Rugged Nuggets
“Octopussy” by Juanitos
“Mondo Whack” by Juanitos

Welcome to Season 3 of the San Juan Snowcast!

On Episode 1, we take the Snowcast pledge (raise your right hand…) before recapping just how good last winter truly was, and we why should probably temper our expectations for this year. Also, we discuss why most “season outlooks” don’t actually mean much, before diving into, you guessed it, a season outlook and what the impending El Niño could mean for snowfall across the San Juans! 

Instagram: @sanjuansnowcast
Email: [email protected]
Venmo: @Chris-Dickson

Thanks as always to my sponsors!  
- Mountain Trip
- Silverton Avalanche School
- The Peter Inglis Avalanche Education Fund

Music on this week’s show: 
“Ghetto Funk” by Queens Community Show Band
“Rugged Walk” by The Rugged Nuggets
“Octopussy” by Juanitos
“Mondo Whack” by Juanitos

We are breaking records with this storm! Yet another blizzard is dumping snow on the San Juan Mountains, and this winter has officially crossed the threshold into uncharted territory for our 30-year average snowpack! We dive into the State of the Snowpack before sinking our teeth into this year’s HOT TAKES segment. Four friends join me on the pod to chat about what we love and what we hate in our backcountry ski culture. It’s a doozy, but please don’t take it too seriously (we certainly ain’t trying to offend anyone!). 

Please leave a rating and review, and share the show with your friends! 

Instagram: @sanjuansnowcast
Email: [email protected]
Venmo: @Chris-Dickson

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 15! 

It’s currently dumping snow across the Juan’s and the powder stoke is HIGH. On this week’s show, I break down the State of our Snowpack, this current storm, and then dive into a conversation with two local avalanche forecasters: Jeff Davis, with Helitrax, and Elyse Parcell, with the Telluride Ski Patrol. We go deep in to the perilous world of “Moderate” danger and bust some myths around the avalanche danger ratings. It’s a good convo full of nuggets of wisdom! 

Thanks as always to my sponsors:
MountainTrip.com
The Pi Avy Fund
SewAlpine.com

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @sanjuansnowcast
Venmo: @Chris-Dickson

Well, I’m back after a week off from the pod. And a lot has happened in the last week, including several fatal avalanche incidents in our mountains. In this week’s show I discuss the wind, the dust, and the snow we’ve been getting, before I unpack the sad avalanche accidents that occurred this past Saturday.  This is a somber episode but sometimes we need to remember what’s at stake when we travel in avalanche terrain. Hopefully, this helps remind us all to continue to travel cautiously in the backcountry this winter, and to not let our guards down, even when the avalanche danger is moderate. 

Stay safe out there, friends! 

What a storm!!! Man, this winter is just… AWESOME and I am loving it. On this week’s show, we’ll dive into a recap of our latest storm, check out the state of the snowpack, talk Hand Shears and other on-the-fly snowpack obs, and then discuss the dangers around President’s Day Weekend in Colorado (spoiler alert: this is the most dangerous week of the entire winter in terms of avalanche accidents in Colorado!). 

Step it back a little bit, the low danger days are over, for now… 

Thanks for listening and please leave a rating or a review! 🙏

Email: [email protected]
Venmo: @Chris-Dickson