Little bender on the big hill above the house. Hadn't been up there in a while so I got in a few laps. Foot hurts running on flat ground, but felt fine on the steep. Trail's in great shape. Wore my old Yaktracs today, decided I prefer those much more than the much touted Microspikes. Lighter by a long shot, keep my foot closer to the ground on hard ground, fit to the bottom of my foot better. Not quite as grippy on pure water ice, but then neither are Microspikes all that grippy on the clear stuff. Anyway, there's one rant and here is another.
If any O-town runners actually read this, thought I'd post my somewhat novice but relevant observation on a hidden danger that exsists on a trail many of us use all time and probably take the risk for granted. Some may not be aware, but there are a couple of significant avalanche paths that cross the trail on the upper part of the Malan's Peak trail. The elevation and aspect, North to Northeast, put it in the bullseye for some of the instability that exsists this year, and really, every year during times of instability. These paths have slid multiple times every winter that I have run up there. They luckily go naturally and I assume during a snow loading event such as heavy snowfall of wind from the south-southwest and luckily no one has been in the way yet. While not typically huge, the slides that occur in these spots are more than enough to burry a person. Another thing to keep in mind is that the trail does not go through the starting zone, but does cut right through the deposition zone. This means that a human triggered avalanche would have to be remotely triggered, or started from a distance, below the starting zone. Something that isn't likely all the time, but during times of high instability as we have had this year, it is a real possibilty. Just keep it in mind, maybe check the Avalanche Forecast before you go if there is any doubt.
Sorry in advance my phone didn't upload the whole pic on a few of these:
This is the biggerst starting zone and slide path. Notice the scubby trees in the slide path with Pines in the areas where it doesn't slide.
This is looking down off the trail from the same spot. Notice the trail below (center). Same thing, scrubby trees with pines on the sides of the path. Frequent slides keep the big trees from growing here.
Smaller path a little further up trail. Notice the avalanche debris piled up in the gully. Harder to see due to new snow since the slide.
Looking down trail you can see where this path comes across the trail. This is below the big statring zone from above.
Deposition zone below the trail. Full of avy debris right now, just not apparent because it's coverd by a little new snow. Wrong place, wrong time and someone could end up in there.
Potential trigger for a slide. | 