Today I noticed an eerie orangish glow from outside, and looking out the window I saw what could easily be mistaken for wildfire smoke. Brown dust-filled clouds are currently streaming in over the mountains. I have never seen anything like this before. It is utterly disgusting. The photo above was taken around 4pm today; the brown color is the color of the clouds – not sunset, not smoke, just clouds full of dirt.

Yet again we can kiss goodbye any chance of a prolonged spring skiing season, as the dust will surely wreak havoc on the late-season sun-baked snowpack.

The Dust. Sounds like a bad horror plot.

Today I hiked and snowboarded down Mt. Sneffels (see the riding photos in the next post). Here’s the classic view looking from the summit into Blue Lakes Basin. Notice all the ugly brown snow?

When it’s windy in the western states, dust blows from the deserts and ends up smothering the mountains. It’s a phenomenon that has probably happened naturally through the ages, but has become much worse in recent decades due in part to large scale grazing which erodes the desert soils. I’ve even heard that some of the dust blows all the way across the Pacific from huge dust storms in China!

In any case, the dust has a terrible effect not only on the snowpack but on the entire watershed. The dark dust absorbs much more solar radiation than pure white snow, causing a rapid meltdown of the snowpack. In heavy snow years like this year, it could cause flooding problems. In light snow years, it can cause premature meltdown, leading to drought conditions during the summer.

As for recreational effects, such as skiing, the dust can annihilate a wonderful spring snowpack like this year’s. You can imagine my disappointment as I looked at all the beautiful ski terrain around the Blue Lakes Basin that is basically trashed and unskiable for the rest of the year. As for photography, well look at it! It looks like toilet stains. Also, on lower snow years, the summer wildflower seasons could really be hurt by the premature meltdowns.

While the dust layers can affect all the ranges of Colorado, the San Juans seem to get the brunt of it. I’ve noticed in previous years when the dust was much worse in the San Juans than in other ranges such as the Elks or Gore.

Snow scientists have recently begun studies focussed on the dust layer. It remains to be seen what the full causes and effects are, and whether there’s anything we can do about it. (UPDATE: Here’s an informative article out the dust and its mankind-induced causes: Dust in West up 500 percent in past 2 centuries, says CU-Boulder study). In the meantime I will just mourn the loss of what could have been an epic ski season into July.

For reference, here’s a picture I took from the summit of Sneffels in June 2005, another big snow year but without a dust layer. Notice how pristine white the snow is… the way it should be.

(UPDATE: April 3, 2009: See photos of a huge dust storm blowing into the San Juan Mountains in this post).

Wilson Peak is one of Colorado’s most beautiful and most recognized peaks, and in 2007 a Texan real estate developer who owned some mining claims below the mountain closed access to the standard hiking route (all other routes involve much more dangerous mountaineering). After negotiations with the National Forest Service made no progress, The Trust for Public Land stepped in and was able to purchase critical portions of the property in order to reopen and protect public access.

You can read the online version of the article here.

One thing that strikes me about the article is how tactful and seemingly objective the writer is concerning Mr. Nichols, the Texan villain of the story. Like many Colorado residents, I’ve been following this issue for some time, and I certainly don’t have that kind of restraint with my opinions of this guy. No matter how I look at it, all I can conclude is that Mr. Nichols’ actions were greedy and selfish. Before closing access to the peak, Nichols tried to charge every hiker $100 to cross his property. After the controversy started brewing, he attempted to trade his obscure, relatively inaccessible property for prime real estate lower down in the valley – a truly ridiculous proposition that the forest service rightly rejected. He threatened to resume long-abandoned mining operations on the peak, most likely to scare the locals and leverage his negotiations. This is the kind of behavior that gives Texans such an awful reputation here in Colorado – no respect for the local community, no respect for the environment, just rapacious ploys to make a buck.

But I digress… the article is quite good, though it does gloss over much of the specifics and history of the controversy. The article weaves in a story about Erik Weihenmayer, a blind climber who recently hiked Wilson Peak, which was probably just a stroll for him since he has climbed the highest peak on every continent.

A big thanks is due to The Trust for Public Land for saving access to Wilson Peak, and protecting this beautiful mountain from further mining degradation. As for Mr. Nichols, well, I hope he’s in Texas enjoying the $3.25 million he extorted by holding our beloved mountain hostage.

You can read more about Wilson Peak as well as a little history of the access dispute at SummitPost.org.