Ruby Peak

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 04/17/2016
Name: Zach Guy
Subject: Ruby Peak
Aspect: South East, South
Elevation: 11,000 ft

Avalanches: Some rollerballs and one natural D1 wet loose avalanche off of rocky, south facing above treeline.
Weather: Broken skies, a few short pulses of S1 with no real accumulations. Calm winds, warm greenhouse feel.
Snowpack: ~6″ of recent storm snow saw enough sun/greenhouse to moisten and even wet at the surface.

Red Lady Glades

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 04/17/2016
Name: ADB
Subject: Red Lady Glades
Aspect: South East, South, South West, North West
Elevation: BTL/NTL/ATL

Avalanches: Debris in bowl, but obscured skies prevented an assessment.
Weather: Calm. New graupel didn’t impact via S-1 snowfall at NTL and ATL. Graupel left a trace in skin track.
Snowpack: Last 36 hours: 4 to 6 inches of new snow on top of melt/freeze crust. ATL; crust is more apparent and once in NTL and BTL, becomes less so.
A hint of sun signficantly warmed the snow BTL, which didn’t impact stability.

Mountain Weather

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 04/17/2016

The closed low will continue to stall over Colorado and Southern Wyoming over the next few days before weak and short-lived high pressure arrives on Wednesday. The pattern of overcast skies, light winds, and light snowfall can be expected until then. As the low wobbles around today and tomorrow, flow looks to remain unfavorable for our mountains out of the south and southwest. As it exits on Tuesday, we should see a shift to west and northwest flow, which will bring our best chance for better accumulations.

Today

High Temperature: 30
Wind Speed: 3-13
Wind Direction: NE
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 1-3″

Tonight

Low Temperature: 20
Wind Speed: 3-13
Wind Direction: SE
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 1-3″

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 32
Wind Speed: 3-13
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 2-4″

Snodgrass low angle

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 04/16/2016
Name: ADB
Subject: Snodgrass low angle
Aspect:
Elevation: BTL

Avalanches:
Weather: S-1 snowfall with calm winds
Snowpack: Two to four inches of new snow. Colder snow at the beginning of skiing becoming heavier before afternoon snow fall.

Skier triggered slabs on Gothic Peak

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 04/16/2016
Name: Zach Guy
Subject: Skier triggered slabs on Gothic Peak
Aspect: North East, South East, South
Elevation: 9,500-12,300 ft

Avalanches: On SE aspects near treeline, we intentionally skier triggered 3 soft slabs, ranging from 4″-12″ thick. They ran 1,300 feet on the crusty storm interface, large enough to injure you if you got caught. SS-ASc-R1-D1.5-I
Weather: Mild temps. Overcast skies. S-1 with minimal accumulations through the day. Light west winds, with previous wind transport from the east.
Snowpack: Below treeline, 4-6″ of moist new snow over a weak refreeze (2″ crust that was supportive to skis but unsupportive to boots, above wet grains)
Near/above treeline, the new snow was slabbier in places due to wind effects, with drifts up to 12″ thick from easterly windloading patterns, poorly bonded to a stout and supportive refreeze.

DSCN0911-001 DSCN0908-001 DSCN0913-001

Mountain Weather

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 04/16/2016

The strong spring storm is now centered over northern New Mexico, and will shift northeast through the day, spinning abundant moisture under southeast to easterly flow. Although this direction isn’t favorable for most of our zone, ejected pieces of storm energy should continue to bring snowfall through the day. The mountains to our east, such as Star Pass, should be favored under this unusual flow pattern, and could see snow amounts in excess of 8″ today. The low retrogrades, stalls over Colorado, and weakens into Sunday and Monday, bringing continued unsettled weather but unfavorable dynamics to the Crested Butte area.

Today

High Temperature: 30
Wind Speed: 10-20, G40
Wind Direction: E
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 3-6″

Tonight

Low Temperature: 12
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: E
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 0-3″

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 25
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: NE
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 0-2

Mountain Weather

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 04/14/2016

Southwest flow will be increasing today ahead of an incoming low pressure system. Winds will be on the increase and gusty this afternoon, even at valley elevations. Temperatures will be similar to the last few days until colder air arrives around Friday night.
This incoming low pressure is going to be an interesting weather system to keep reading about through the weekend and Denver news stations will probably get very excited. By Friday evening the center of the low presser will stall around the four corners region through the weekend. Very moist air will be pulled from the pacific and eventually the golf and potential snow numbers are looking high for Colorado. Our highest snowfall rates will probably be around Friday evening into Saturday, while the incoming weather will be from the southwest. Later in the weekend the incoming flow will be southeast to east favoring the continental divide and Front Range Mountains. The San Juan Mountains will be the biggest winner and if you’re craving some powder you should start planning that ski trip.

Today

High Temperature: 45
Wind Speed: 12 to 22
Wind Direction: S, SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Tonight

Low Temperature: 30
Wind Speed: 10 to 20
Wind Direction: S, SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Snow: 1 to 3

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 38
Wind Speed: 5 to 15
Wind Direction: S, SW
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 1 to 3

White Mountain obs

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Brush Creek Area
Date of Observation: 04/12/2016
Name: Zach Guy
Subject: White Mountain obs
Aspect: North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, North West
Elevation: 9,100-13,400 ft

Avalanches: See photos. Observed about a 10 recent natural loose wet avalanches on northwest aspects near treeline, some of which gouged to the ground, D1 to D2 in size. A few small ones above treeline as well. Failure date unknown but I would guess this past weekend. No other significant activity observed, with good views up high.
Weather: Broken skies, warm temps, light winds, a few brief periods of graupel.
Snowpack: Decent refreeze last night: Surface crusts were ~6″ thick below treeline, 8-12″ thick near treeline above a wet snowpack. Above treeline, there was a few inches of recent, unconsolidated snow that was rollerballing harmlessly, and crusts below the new snow looked on track to stay frozen and solid through the whole day. Around 2 p.m., the snowpack had become trapdoor and unsupportive to skis below about 10,500 ft on N and W aspects.

NW aspect NTL on White Mountain

NW aspect NTL on White Mountain

NW aspect ATL, near Teocalli

NW aspect ATL, near Teocalli

NW aspect NTL, Teocalli

NW aspect NTL, Teocalli

NW aspect NTL. Teocalli

NW aspect NTL. Teocalli

Mountain Weather

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 04/12/2016

A low pressure over New Mexico and Arizona will continue pushing a little moisture into our area today. The sky will start out clear today, then throughout the day we’ll see a few clouds pop up over the mountains that may produce light snow showers at times. Dry conditions are on tap for Wednesday with high temperatures a few degrees warmer then Tuesday. Later this week, Thursday starts the next significant change in the weather. By Thursday afternoon we’ll see wind speeds increasing ahead of the next low pressure forecasted to track just to the south of Colorado. This Low pressure will be the next start for unsettled weather heading through the weekend.

Today

High Temperature: 46
Wind Speed: 5 to 15
Wind Direction: NW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0 to 1

Tonight

Low Temperature: 27
Wind Speed: 0 to 10
Wind Direction: NW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Snow: 0

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 52
Wind Speed: 0 to 10
Wind Direction: W, NW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Snow: 0

Owen Cornice Fall

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 04/11/2016
Name: dustin E.
Subject: Owen Cornice Fall
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 11,000-13,000

Avalanches: Saw a cornice that had fallen, likely the previous day, or early that morning, from near the summit of Mount Owen. The cornice dropped just to the lookers left of the prominent subridge coming down the center of the NE face on Owen. Looked as though the cornice popped out a slab and gouged to the ground in some areas. One block had fallen all of the way to the bottom of the bowl separating Owen and Purple. Still lots of overhanging cornices left up on the Owen ridge. Lots of wet loose activity within the new snow.
Weather: Warm and partly to mostly cloudy with clouds hanging on Owen and Purple till around noon.
Snowpack: Firm snow surface on alll aspects (firmer on solar aspects) with some shaded areas holding onto 5-6 inches of windblown snow from the past couple days.

owen