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Show 14 7. West Rustler ( Figure 12) Moderate intermittent hazard. This slope is actually composed of three chutes between Jitterbug and Sunspot. These chutes normally run independently of each other, and negative results from control work in one of the chutes does not indicate stability in any of the others. Control is normally from the Peruvian Ridge gun. Infrequently, the whole West Rustler Face below the chutes slides and has been known to run into the Meadow. 8 « High Traverse and Racecourse Saddle ( Figure 12) This photograph shows the West Rustler area, including part of the High Traverse and the traverse from Racecourse Saddle. The relationship of these two traverses can be seen clearly. There are times when the upper part of West Rustler, Stonecrusher, Jitterbug, and Rustler Face are safe, but it has not been possible to do adequate control on the backside of the mountain ( Greeley Bowl, etc.). In such cases it is necessary to keep the High Traverse closed, allowing people to traverse out from Racecourse Saddle. The reason for doing this rather than closing off traffic at the top of Rustler Ridge is that there is no positive way to control skiers at that point. Although the High Traverse crosses the Ridge at one major point, many skiers leave the regular trail to follow a higher line into Greeley Bowl when the High Traverse is open. The only effective way to close off the backside at the Ridge would be to sign and rope off the whole Ridge line - a highly impractical solution. In addition to this problem, there are two others, First, a skier violating the signs at this point would be very likely to get into serious trouble, and it would probably be a long time before an accident would be realized. Second, many intermediate skiers like to ski the gentle powder slopes of the northern part of Greeley Bowl. If they traversed out to the crest of the Ridge before finding out that Greeley Bowl was closed, they would be quite likely to violate the closed signs rather than ski down the very steep upper part of West Rustler. Another slope in this picture deserves mentioning. Off the knoll below Racecourse Saddle is a steep area with some exposed rock. Although skiers rarely traverse around the knoll here, they do on occasion, as the photo shows. In highly unstable conditions, this slope can avalanche. If there is a question regarding this slope, it should be hand- charged. Test skiing is inadvisable, since access to the slope is difficult because of the cliffs. |