Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 02/20/2019
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Shooting Cracks WNW. Otherwise Quite Pow.
Aspect: North, South, North West
Elevation: 8,900ft to 12,300ft
Avalanches:
Several D1 and D1.5 windslabs in the alpine on wind-loaded terrain. One fresh D2 windslab into Redwell Basin.
All other avalanches were old, from around the Valentine Storm. Many D2’s from N to NW to E at ATL and NTL elevations in Redwell Basin.
Weather: Mostly Cloudy sky with some breaks to let the sun through. Moderate westerly rigeline winds in the alpine transporting snow.
Snowpack: For the current moderate wind speed in the alpine, most of the snow has already been blown around and transported. That snow looked to have mostly transported last night and yesterday. Still there was snow blowing around today and there is plenty more in the fetches as the wind speeds pick up.
Generally a quiet day with the snowpack feeling strong. We continued to manage slopes with windslabs and trigger points in mind.
Shooting cracks were observed and a week snowpack was found on west northwest terrain at a near treeline elevation. HS was much shallower then average here, around 120-130cm. There were several large avalanches in this terrain from the Valentine Storm, and it didn’t take long in that terrain to realize the snow wasn’t something we wanted to travel on.
Photos:
Mowed down trees in Right Chute or Wrong Chute. Start zone NW at 11,000’ish feet
Weak snowpack and shooting cracks WNW aspect.