Avalanche danger for these RMNP hikes?

[rdp32]

Thanks everyone again for your feedback; I now have some new reading material added to my book list. One more question: it sounds like most of those hikes are a no-go in the winter; at what point in the year do they become safe? For some of them, do you need to wait until all the snow is gone, or is there a point in the season when the snow is consolidated enough to be safe from an avy perspective?

[DaveLanders]

It is possible to descend from Lk Helene to Odessa, but I wouldn't use the summer trail to do so. Instead it is better to go more directly from the north side of Lk Helene.

That makes sense. Once you get to Odessa, is it avy safe the rest of the way to the Fern Lake TH? (I like the idea of a 1-way trip from Bear Lake to Fern Lake in the winter, enabled by a car/bike shuttle)

The area from Odessa on down should be safe. The winter route from Odessa to Fern Lk used to just follow the creek instead of using the summer trail. However the East Troublesome fire burned some of that, so I don't know if it is still passable due to possible downed trees.

Doing these hikes in the spring while there is still snow is definitely possible, and often done. The avalanche hazard will be less, but you may still have to worry about wet slides depending on the weather that day, whether or not it froze the night before, etc.

Reading about all of this on the internet is better than nothing, but it's not a substitute for going with more experienced people, either as a formal class, or with friends acting as mentors, so you can get an understanding of their decision making process.

[Dave B]

Thanks everyone again for your feedback; I now have some new reading material added to my book list. One more question: it sounds like most of those hikes are a no-go in the winter; at what point in the year do they become safe? For some of them, do you need to wait until all the snow is gone, or is there a point in the season when the snow is consolidated enough to be safe from an avy perspective?

The snow field above Peacock Pool on the way to Chasm lake can often be safe. It's the right slope angle but gets blown into a low-energy pencil-hard slab pretty quickly. Again, knowing how to assess danger is pretty important. I'd bet my lunch that 75% of the brojangles climbers heading up there don't bother to assess safety, other than poking it with an ice tool a few times, and just follow the boot prints across. So, given the prime slide terrain combined with high usage but relatively small number of people caught in avys, speaks somewhat to it's safety.

Again, knowing how to assess it is still key.