Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 11/23/2019
Name: Evan Ross

Subject: Couple Old Natural Avalanches And Some Good Turns
Aspect: North, South, West
Elevation: 11,000-12,300ft

Avalanches: A few persistent slabs ran naturally on NE aspects during the 11/22 storm. One of these was large in size and could have buried a person. The others were smaller but dragged through plenty of rocks and trees.

Schuylkill Ridge, NE aspect at about 11,350ft. SS-N-R1-D2-O, SS-N-R1-D1.5-O
The NE facing Shield at 12,000ft on Scarps Ridge may also have had a slab avalanche or at least just some sluffing but I didn’t get a good view.

Weather: Beautiful sunny and clear day. The nearby Cinnamon Weather Station at 12,293 reordered North winds in the 5 to 10mph range. and a high temperature of 25F at that elevation.

Snowpack: The last round of northwest to north winds on 11/22 had previously transported much of the recent new snow on wind-exposed terrain features at both above and near treeline elevations. More protected terrain features had some wind stiffened snow on the surface or no wind effect at all.

The 11/22 storm dropped about 5-6″ of low-density new snow. The couple inches of new snow from the 11/21 storm felt like it had some moisture pulled out of it and had lost some of its soft slab feel compared to my observation on 11/21. No signs of instability were observed despite the very weak 11/20 interface we were traveling on. Maybe this was due to some of the moisture being pulled out of the 11/21 storm and a general soft over soft snowpack structure, or maybe the unstable pocket just wasn’t encountered. The public was also out in force getting some good turns on Northerly and Westerly facing terrain at near and above treeline elevations. From social media pictures, it doesn’t currently appear that anyone found any significant signs to current instability.

The new snow that has accumulated on southerly facing slopes was thick and moist by Saturday afternoon. This snow will probably melt on some slopes by Monday or form crusts down the ground or the 11/20 melt-freeze crust.

While we may not have seen signs of instability today, the snowpack is ripe for unstable conditions once we start seeing a load applied or slabs forming. As noted in previous observations, the 11/20 interface is particularly weak where it was protected from past wind events and the sun. This weak interface can be found on shaded terrain features and/or NW to N to E aspects. Northerly to Easterly aspects above 11,300ft are probably the best bullseye.

Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 11/22/2019
Name: Evan Ross

Subject: Shooting Crack, Mt Baldy.
Aspect: North, South, West
Elevation: 11,000-12,000

Weather: Nearby Cinnamon Weather station at 12,293ft recorded westerly winds averaging 25 to 15mph from 6am until noon. In the afternoon clouds were hanging on the peaks and there was absolutely no wind. A nice blue hole in the clouds rolled through for about an hour followed by overcast sky for the rest of the afternoon.
Snowpack: About 3″ of snow had accumulated from the recent storms on Wednesday and Thursday morning. The westerly wind was strong enough to drift that little bit of new snow about and create some wind texture on upper elevation exposed terrain.

The old October snow is variable in both its location and current type. In many areas that snow has been melted away or very wind effected with tightly packed small grains. Both of these setups posed the leased concerns. That old October Snow is concerning in areas more protected from the sun and from the wind events in late October/early November. In those areas, the old snowpack is faceted and weak, especially the NSF development in the upper 10-15cm of the old snow. This weak snow will take little load to become an avalanche problem in the future. South to Southwest to West at ~11,600ft. The October Snow is either completely melted away or a 5-15cm melt-freeze crust on the ground. Of particular note, the portions of these slopes that were shaded by tree stands held pockets of a weak faceted old snowpack.

North to Northwest between 11,600-12,000ft. HS averaged about 50-60cm or around 2 feet. Some areas were disturbed by previous winds and the stacks of old wind slabs and wind-packed grains were less concerning. Otherwise, the snowpack in this area could be generalized as faceted and weak. The 11/20 interface was the most concerning with well developed 1-2mm faceted grains that were already becoming sensitive with the very shallow and soft slab forming over them. A .5cm melt-freeze crust was fairly widespread in this area and may help aid propagation in the future. Shooting cracks were observed on a portion of a 30-33 degree slope at 11,900ft.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 11/19/2019
Name: Ian Havlick

Subject: Kebler Pass Pre-Storm Observations
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 10,000-12,000

Avalanches:

none.

Weather: Clear skies becoming scattered to overcast mid-afternoon. Light winds below treeline, gusts to 35mph above treeline at 12,000 Scarp Ridge station. Temperatures midday were 33º at 12,000ft. Mild and almost T-shirt in sun.
Snowpack: bare ground on E-S-SW aspects with residual halloween snow hanging on shaded westerlies and northern half of compass. west facing snow was generally baked faceted rounds, with cohesionless facets in the shade and northerlly aspects. Snow depths 10-20cm.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 11/18/2019
Name: Eric Murrow

Subject: Snow coverage from October storms
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, North West

Snowpack: Snowfall from October has been melted to dirt, or at best, patchy coverage for slopes on the southern half of the compass, while the northern half of the compass has held on to a thin, continuous layer. Snow that has persisted on sunny slopes has developed into a patchwork of crusts. The snowpack on northerly facing slopes has been faceting, weakening, and will provide a poor foundation for the incoming storms. I would anticipate some avalanche activity on shaded slopes if the forecasted storms produce over the next week. Below are photos from around the range; take a gander and find the photos of terrain you play in and make note of what the incoming storms will be falling on.  Gallery generally shows terrain from west to east across the forecast area.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 05/22/2019
Name: ADAM BRODERICK

Subject: Axtell avalanche
Aspect: North
Elevation: 11,200

Avalanches:

Wet slab

Weather: Partly cloudy

Snowpack: Light surface snow

Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 05/12/201

Subject: Gothic southeast face wet slab slide
Aspect: South East
Elevation: above treeline

Avalanches:

skier triggered wet slab, R1 D2. triggered near a small group of pine trees: one skier caught and carried a couple of feet, no burials.

Weather: Sunny, warm

Snowpack: overnight freeze thawed on the way up, wasn’t quite soft enough for postholing at the summit. Once we dropped into the bowl, the snow quality degraded into slush. Sluff was easily manageable.

Photos:

Location: Brush Creek Area
Date of Observation: 05/01/2019
Name: billy barr

Subject: Gothic 7am Weather Update

Weather: Well, it was a good summer. I mean we had that week of temperatures in the 50’sF so I guess that is it as it is winter. Again. Off and on snow yesterday but steady last night moderate to heavy with the 24 hour totals of 14½” of new snow and water content of 1.25″. Snowpack, which just a few days ago dropped to 40½” is now at 59″. Light SW wind and no visibility and currently snowing moderately. And if you do not have anything nice to say about something…..

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 04/30/2019
Name: billy barr

Subject: Gothic 7am Weather Update

Weather: Snow most of yesterday but generally light and very dense, then picked up after dark until around midnight when it became light, then none. Also some rain for a bit mid afternoon. The 24 hour totals are 10″ of snow with water content of 1.19″ and rain 0.05″. Snow feels even denser than that 12%, which in itself is almost twice the usual density. Snowpack back up to 48½”, up from 40½” 2 days ago. Snow is wet and sticky and is caked to everything. Currently overcast and at the days low of 30F. No wind yesterday or now though it did pick up a while last night.