Send us your backcountry photos and stories

In the Summit Daily this weekend:

Tele tales and avy fables: A review of the big year. Send your backcountry and avalanche photos and stories for a special online section.
bberwyn@summitdaily.com (Please include details: date, place, names of skiers, etc. and a phone number so we can verify spellings.)

SUMMIT COUNTY — Local skiers and boarders are starting to harvest a rich crop of corn snow in the local backcountry, but avy season is far from over.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center winds down full state coverage this week, but will offer late-season updates for the Summit zone.

Snowslides have killed five people in Colorado this winter, just below the average 5.5, said forecaster Spencer Logan. A near record-breaking early pace of avy deaths in the West slowed at the end of the winter.

What started out as a scary season mellowed out when big snows started piling up. The backcountry snowpack was more stable than normal for long stretches, punctuated by short periods of high danger tied to big snow and big wind events, forecaster John Snook said.

Check back on the web and in the print edition of the Summit Daily for updates to this story.

Avalanche center web forecasts updated <b>Sunday, Wednesday and Friday:</b> http://avalanche.state.co.us/

Summit Daily weather links:
http://www.summitdaily.com/section/WEATHER

Send backcountry and avalanche stories and photos to bberwyn@summitdaily.com (Please include details: date, place, names of skiers, etc. and a phone number so we can verify spellings.)

<b>Also coming this weekend:</b>

Dreamin' about the Fourth
Has desert dust doomed Independence Day skiing at A-Basin?

SUMMIT COUNTY — Some A-Basin fans wonder if the area will ever again stay open through Independence Day.

Not this year, the resort says.

A-Basin wants to clear the deck for a major parking improvement, hopefully improving environmental conditions in the North Fork at the same time.

But that doesn't rule out staying open into July in future seasons, said mountain operations director Tim Finnigan.

That is if the rust- and mustard-colored sand grains from Utah and Arizona don't dissolve the snow into ugly brown puddles of glop. Some long-time locals speculate that dust pollution has intensified in recent years, and some recent San Juan research shows it speeds up snowmelt.

But if snows pile deep enough to enable top-to-bottom skiing, the ski area might consider an extension in future years.

Check back on the web and in the print edition for updates on this story.