Small Loose Wet Avalanches

CB Avalanche Center2016-17 Observations

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 04/06/2017
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Small loose wet
Aspect: North East, East, South, West
Elevation:

Avalanches: Viewing a large portion of the range in the Mt baldy area, no recent slab avalanches were observed.

Lots of loose wet avalanches could be seen. These all looked to be D1.5s or smaller. These loose wet avalanches were most widespread on easterly and south easterly steep slopes at near and above treeline elevations.
Weather: Mostly clear sky. Calm wind through most of the day with a light westerly breeze at ridgline in the afternoon. Didn’t feel significantly hot in the alpine, but didn’t take any actual temperatures.
Snowpack: Last weeks storm snow has settled to about 5-10cm’s on a northeast slope at 11,300ft and about 1-3cm’s on the southern half of the compass at all elevations. These past storm accumulations were deeper on cross loaded terrain features and the lee sides of ridge lines.

Lots of steep skiing going on by the public today, or recently. Gothic Spoon, East Mineral, East Richmond, Redwell, Wolverine, Whetstone M Face to name a few. Some skier triggered loose snow avalanches on these lines, but all activity looked small, relative to the large terrain.

Typical size of observed wet avalanches. Larger terrain produced larger debris piles. Easterly aspect Mt Baldy.

Mountain Weather 4/6/2017

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 04/07/2017

A ridge of high pressure centered over the desert southwest is moving our way, bringing warm air and a steady trickle of high thin clouds under a light westerly flow. We can expect high temperatures around 10 degrees warmer than yesterday, along with the typical-for-spring uptick in afternoon winds.
The ridge axis crosses over us late today, ushering in a warm southwest flow tonight into tomorrow. Friday will be even warmer, with increasing clouds in advance of a small storm on track for Saturday night into Sunday.

Carbon

CB Avalanche Center2016-17 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 04/05/2017
Name: Cam Smith
Subject: Carbon
Aspect: South
Elevation: 10,000-12,000 ft

Avalanches: N/A
Weather: Clear. Warmer than the nearby Irwin weather station was showing. About 20 degrees in the valley at 0730. Winds from the northwest around 10-15mph blowing the little bit of snow still available for transport.
Snowpack: Below and near treeline holding 2-3 inches of blown snow. Above treeline was wind scoured on the ridges and about an inch of blown snow in cross loaded features. That inch of snow was poorly bonded to the spring crust but harmless because of its depth. More heavily loaded features would have been enough to knock a skier off their feet in the same situation.

Cascade/Baxter

CB Avalanche Center2016-17 Observations

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 04/04/2017
Name: Ian havlick
Subject: Cascade/Baxter
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West
Elevation: 9000-12800

Avalanches: Increasing storm and windslabs instability toward mid afternoon with heavy snow. Triggered several small wind pockets on crossloaded east facing NTL on descent below cascade. Numerous dry loose D.5 skiffs off steep terrain isolated to newest 3″ storm snow.
Weather: Overcast, with shadows quickly becoming heavy snow (S3+) around 12:30. Mild temps and light NE winds which then moved to NW wind with snow.
Snowpack: Extensive collapsing of 4/2 crust underfoot, with a few larger whoops extending 30-40ft below 11k. Spooky, wet slab feeling snow on east facing N/BTL. New snow has been insulating and rotting snow. Boot pen was 3ft. Above 11k, snow was much colder and more solid. Minor reverse loading on cascade ridgeline from NE winds. Dig on north faving, about 1m above march crust, a few minor crust/wind stiffened layers but relatively rightside up other increasing density the deeper you go.

IMG_2737
IMG_2715
IMG_2712

Anthracites lap

CB Avalanche Center2016-17 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 04/04/2017
Name: Ben Pritchett
Subject: Anthracites lap
Aspect: North, North East, East, South
Elevation: 10,000′-11,500′

Avalanches: Triggered 5x D1 to 1.5 soft slabs on Northeast to east slopes. 4-5″ deep. Touchy on terrain >40 degrees, propagating up to 50′ wide. (sorry no photos of these small avalanches)
Weather: Spits of S1 all day, but not much accumulation. Gusty Northwest winds transported snow all day.
Snowpack: Northerly slopes facing the wind were soft wind buff. Northeast to east aspects held the most new snow, particularly in drifted features like gully entrances or behind rows of trees. Sunny slopes had been cooked Monday afternoon, so while the cornices were growing above south facing terrain, we observed very limited wind slab development on southerly slopes.

Cornice block dropped on South aspect, producing no results.
Tiny wind lens behind a row of trees indicating the depth of the wind slab problem.  When triggered in larger features, these propagated up to 50′ wide.

Mountain Weather 4/5/2017

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 04/05/2017

Yesterday’s storm was like a bad houseguest. It didn’t bring much and stayed too long. Up in the high country, there was a lot of pomp and show as the squalls lingered, but in the end, new snow totals only ranged from 3-4 inches in the western part of the zone, with 6 inches in upper Taylor Park.
Now the western US sits under a broad ridge of dry high pressure for the next couple days. Today promises lots of sun and a quick rebound to warm temperatures with a fresh breeze from the Northwest. Tonight we’ll see a strong freeze, and Thursday high temperatures will creep above normal as the flow turns westerly.

Irwin Tenure

CB Avalanche Center2016-17 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 04/03/2017
Name: Irwin Guides
Subject: Irwin Tenure
Aspect: South, South West, West
Elevation: 10,000-12,000

Avalanches: Travelled very little avalanche terrain today. Some rollerballs on west facing late afternoon (farout). no obvioud wet loose or windslabs observed in our terrain or surrounding backcountry.
Weather: Clear skies transitioned to obscured by lunch time. NO significant snow accumulations during the day but s1 snow at 1645. Light westerly winds at ridgetop at 1600. High temperature of 31 at study plot, low 20s at 12,000ft.
Snowpack: Snow stayed cold above 11,300, N/BTL treeline snow become gloppy, slow, heavy. 5″ new, some dry loose on west facing in afternoon, somewhat poor bonding on April 2nd crust with this new snow. Did observe light windloading from WSW winds loading near ridgeline on Scarp.

Irwin Tenure

CB Avalanche Center2016-17 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 04/03/2017
Name: Irwin Guides
Subject: Irwin Tenure
Aspect: South, West
Elevation: 10,000-12,000

Avalanches: Travelled very little avalanche terrain today. Some rollerballs on west facing late afternoon (farout). no obvioud wet loose or windslabs observed in our terrain or surrounding backcountry.
Weather: Avalanche observations:

Snowpack observations:

Clear skies transitioned to obscured by lunch time. NO significant snow accumulations during the day but s1 snow at 1645. Light westerly winds at ridgetop at 1600. High temperature of 31 at study plot, low 20s at 12,000ft.
Snowpack: Snow stayed cold above 11,300, N/BTL treeline snow become gloppy, slow, heavy. 5″ new snow at 8am, barely an inch all day. Did observe light windloading from WSW on Scarp, loading NW facing slopes, but did not investigate. Looked quite shallow if any wind slab development. West facing terrain 37º+ did rollerball when skied late afternoon.

Mountain Weather 4/4/2017

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 04/04/2017

Our last spring storm for a little while is currently tracking through northern New Mexico, on it’s way to Oklahoma. If you look outside the Gunnison Valley, you’ll see overnight reports of several inches of snow throughout western Colorado, while around our neighborhood we picked up only a trace in town, one inch at Irwin and two inches in Taylor Park.

As this system moves further east today and closes off, our chances for snow will dwindle. Today, look for a few last gasps from this storm before noon, possibly with a spurt or two of moderate snowfall, followed by a drying trend taking hold this afternoon that will last until the weekend.

The one caveat with this storm is that the weather models are all over the place and there is a low probability of picking up close to a foot along the crest of the Elk Range. If you’re headed to the high country keep in mind the possibility of a brief intense squall later this morning.

Mountain Weather 4/3/2017

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 04/03/2017

A fast moving shortwave trough of low pressure moved through the area overnight, dropping 3-6” of 10% density snow across the Elk Mountains. Today we will see increasing clouds throughout the day ahead of a significant storm set to produce accumulating snow late this afternoon, intensifying overnight into Tuesday. West winds are not looking all that impressive at the moment, but watch for an uptick of winds as this storm arrives. Temperatures should remain on the chilly side today, and fall throughout this storm as cold air slips down from Canada. Enjoy the snow, as a very strong ridge of high pressure, and warm temperatures look to arrive Wednesday.