[BR-Crater] weather watch: next trip to Black Rock

[Ian Kluft]

On Sun, Feb 01, 2009 at 12:25:47PM -0800, Ian Kluft wrote:
> It could be another 2 weeks after the rain stops before we can consider
> it again.  Maybe 1 week if it's light.

That turned out to be wishful thinking at the time.

Obviously weather has been in the news in California and Nevada.  It's good
to get the snow and rain because both states need mountain snowpack and full
reserviors to get out of the drought.

As for when we can have the next trip to Black Rock, all I can say is
be patient.  We weren't planning to go on the playa anyway.  I don't know
the condition of Jungo Road, the dirt road we'll need to take to get to
the Pahsupp Mountain area.  Presumably it's going to be wet, snowy and/or
icy for a while.

(Then again, it can be done.  Stratofox 4x4'ed for 90 minutes on muddy and
snowy dirt roads to recover the CSXT booster in Nov 2004.  Jungo Road is
better maintained than Crutcher Canyon Road and the Dolly Varden Basin that
we drove through to get the booster.  But we brought significant winter
search & rescue capability when we did that.)

I think we'll still use the rule of thumb for planning to wait 2 weeks
after the precipitation stops.  But after such significant snowfall and
rain, it may need more than that.

One thing I'm keeping in mind... I'll be making a presentation about
Stratofox at the Space Access Conference in Phoenix on April 2-4.  The
organizer of the conference suggested that a quick update on the crater
research is also welcome.  If a trip in March turns out to be feasible,
it may be nice to have some recent activity to report.  But it isn't
important enough to press the matter if it isn't safe to do so.  We'll
evaluate that as the time comes.

For now, check your calendars for some possible trip dates...
* March 22-23 (Sun & Mon) after the March 21 SBAY Pizza meeting
* March 28-29 (Sat & Sun)

Trips on weekdays may also be possible if schedules allow and we can
get enough vehicles for the requirement to have self-rescue capability
within the group.