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U.S. forest rangers going to measure the snow course in the Sangre de Cristo mountains above Penasco, New Mexico

Library of Congress · 1943 · John Collier, Jr., for the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information

Two men rest on a packed snow trail in spruce timber, one lying back against his pack, with skis and poles standing upright in the snow beside them.
From the archive · Library of Congress · 1943 U.S. forest rangers going to measure the snow course in the Sangre de Cristo mountains above Penasco, New Mexico John Collier, Jr., for the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USW3-017167-E No known restrictions on publication. Archive record ↗ · Rights

Source Archival record · verify at Library of Congress ↗

A snow course is a fixed line of sampling points, measured at the same places on the same dates every year so the numbers can be compared. Getting to one, in 1943, was a day on skis.

Shows: The journey a snow measurement used to be, and the gear it took: skis, packs, a rest in the timber on the way up.

What this does not let you conclude: The measurement itself, or any Colorado course. This is the Sangre de Cristos on the New Mexico side -- the same range whose Colorado end feeds the Rio Grande in Division 3. January 1943.

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  • Topic snow · plate

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