More Cornice Triggered Avalanches

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 04/19/2019
Name: Evan Ross

Subject: More Cornice Triggered Avalanches
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 9,500-12,500

Avalanches: A couple more cornice avalanches that failed within the past couple days. The most significant was outside our forecast area in the West Elk Wilderness. The cornice gouged to the ground and produced a very large D3 avalanche on a north face at 12,200ft. The other was a D2 on an east face at 12,000ft near East Beckwith that only entrained surface snow.

Skier triggered some small loose wet avalanches on a north facing below treeline slope.

Weather: Oooo man, that was a good one! Beautiful day. Calm to light winds at 12,000ft. Clear sky. Full on spring baby.

Snowpack: Shred-tastic out there. Spent most of the day on northerly facing terrain. The snow surface above 11,500ft was still mostly dry and great skiing where it wasn’t effected by the wind. Spent some time crossing easterly facing terrain near and above treeline and before noon, and any loose wet issues where minimal at that time. SW above treeline at around 1pm was warming right at ridgeline, didn’t travel lower on that slope but the loose wet also felt minimal. Wether loose wet avalanches became a more significant issue somewhere or not, we still chose to avoid some sunny terrain due to the potential for wet avalanches on rocky steep slopes.