Copper Creek

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/02/2016
Name: Ian Havlick
Subject: Copper Creek
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West
Elevation: 9400-10000

Avalanches: No recent avalanches observed . Evidence of xmas slides are present, but becoming harder to observe. Did see a fresh cornice fall triggered slide within last 4 days on steep cliffy area on east facing slope on Gothic
Weather: Cold morning warmed with intense solar during day. Around 1300, increasingly overcast skies put damper on any further heating. Calm winds.
Snowpack: Widespread surface hoar and near surface faceting last two mornings. Temperature profile in 130cm pit showed very strong gradients in upper and lower snowpack. -10 to -19C in upper 30cm and -7 to 0 degrees in lower 10cm in a pit South facing at 10,000ft.

Numerous large collapses on 10-30 degree slopes on southern half of compass BTL. ECTP14 SC, numerous CTM and RB6 sudden collapse on a rush block test preformed on a south facing, BTL slope 22 degrees in steepness. Thin layer of moist 3mm facets failed within a 50cm snowpack in this location.

Mountain Weather 1/3/2016

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 01/03/2016

The gradual warming trend has continued with low temperatures at 10,000ft in the low 20s and valley lows around -15 to -20. Today’s highs and lows will continue be a few degrees warmer. High thin clouds will build again today. Heading into next week our weather will continue to be cloudy with a little snow here and there. Snowfall accumulation is looking a slightly better on Thursday but we’ll have to wait for details to come.

Today

High Temperature: 28 to 33
Wind Speed: 2 to 12
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Tonight

Low Temperature: 15 to 20
Wind Speed: 5 to 15
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 28 to 33
Wind Speed: 5 to 15
Wind Direction: S
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Irwin Obs

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/02/2016
Name: Zach Guy
Subject: Irwin Obs
Aspect: South East, South
Elevation: 11,000-12,000 ft

Avalanches:
Weather: Scattered, thin clouds increased in coverage and thickness through the day. Calm winds. High of 34 at 10k
Snowpack: Widespread near surface faceting.
Checked out the bedsurface of a Christmas cycle avalanche on ESE aspect above treeline. Above the crusty bed surface, there was a foot of recent new snow faceting quickly. Advanced 1mm facets above the crust, widespread, F hard.
1 crown profile and one test profile on S aspects near treeline, showed 70 to 100 cm slab over crust/facet sandwiches. The facet/crust layers were more continuous and more reactive where trees had shaded the snowpack. See attached profiles and photos.

Crown Profile, S aspect near treeline

Crown Profile, S aspect near treeline

Test profile, S aspect NTL

Test profile, S aspect NTL

IMG_5447

Crust facet sandwich anyone? S aspect NTL, below 90 cm slab.

IMG_5446

Crown profile, S aspect NTL

Bed surface of Christmas cycle slide. ESE aspect ATL. Advanced facets forming above crusty bed surface.

Bed surface of Christmas cycle slide. ESE aspect ATL. Advanced facets forming above crusty bed surface.

Mountain Weather 1/2/2016

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 01/02/2016

-25*F in Crested Butte this morning feels downright balmy compared to yesterday morning, and strong inversions are in place with most mountain temperatures hovering in the teens. A closed low to our west will direct enough moisture into our region for some mid to upper level clouds this weekend. As that low migrates north, it open the doors to warm, southwest flow, warming mountain temperatures into the upper 20’s or low 30’s by Sunday. A series of Pacific troughs bring back unsettled weather next week, although the brunt of precipitation stays to our south with these storms.

Today

High Temperature: 25
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Tonight

Low Temperature: 15
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 32
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Snodgrass TH Snowshoe Tour

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/31/2015
Name: Will
Subject: Snodgrass TH Snowshoe Tour
Aspect:
Elevation: 9,600′

Avalanches:
Weather: Sunny, Clear and Calm with temps in the teens
Snowpack: ASPECT: mostly on the Snodgrass road grade
SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: no new signs of instability around the Snodgrass TH, we where able to produce cracking and collapsing in the upper meadow while exploring on the road. Snowshoe pen 8cm

Swampy Pass Tour

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/01/2016
Name: Cam Smith
Subject: Swampy Pass Tour
Aspect: South, South West, West
Elevation: 9,000-10,500

Avalanches:
Weather: -20F at 7 a.m. warming to 15F midday. Clear and calm.
Snowpack: 1mm surface hoar forming in meadows and open areas South of the Anthracites. While skinning with a large group, experienced whoomping near treeline on South and West aspects.

Snodgrass Field Observation

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/01/2016
Name: Jimmy Buchanan
Subject: Snodgrass Field Observation
Aspect: South East
Elevation: 10,700′

Avalanches: None
Weather: Sunny and clear, calm winds, no precipitation. Air temperature was -8° C.
Snowpack: Observed rounding surface hoar on this 33 degree southeast facing slope. HS was 93 cm, with a -7° C surface temperature and -9° C 20cm below the surface. The christmas storm slab has continued to round and strengthen with sun exposure on this SE facing slope, but the slab was still very reactive on the bottom layer of 3-4 mm depth hoar. An extended column test yielded ECTP15 Q1 SC.

IMG_2733

Mountain Weather 1/1/2016

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 01/01/2016

2016 is off to a cold start. Temperatures in town are a frigid -30*F, while mountain stations are showing -10 to 0. January is typically a dry month during El Nino winters, and this month looks to start off on cue for that. The broad, exiting trough closes off over the West Coast and a high pressure ridge establishes over the Central Rockies through the weekend. This will bring a warming trend to the mountains and strengthening valley inversions. The storm track will be split around the Western US next week, with a series of troughs passing to our south. At this point, it looks like the Elk Mountains won’t get tickets to the show, but we might catch a lyric or two from outside the venue.

Today

High Temperature: 15
Wind Speed: 0-10
Wind Direction: SE
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Snow: 0

Tonight

Low Temperature: 5
Wind Speed: 2-12
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Snow: 0

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 22
Wind Speed: 2-12
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Level 1 Avy Course Snodgrass

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/31/2015
Name: JSJ
Subject: Level 1 Avy Course Snodgrass
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: 9,500’ to 10,800′

Avalanches:
Weather: Clear, Calm and temps in the high single digits to low-teens all day.
Snowpack: Persistent slab over facets and depth hoar. HS ranged from 70-110cm throughout our tour. Ski pen was about 20cms and boot pen was still to the ground. We toured in terrain up to 36*, and got only a few isolated signs of instability (cracking and collapsing) but they were large and frightening. Lots of old avalanche activity on the lower NE side of Snodgrass in steep terrain, and surprisingly filled back in again, with HS in the old tracks back up to about 50-60cms. Avy problem on these slopes though was Loose Dry as opposed to Persistent Slab). Evidence that these paths ran early in the Xmas cycle. A profile on an old crown in steep terrain revealed a 120cm HS that was (top down) F>4F>1F>F>P>F and produced repeatable results of CTM Sudden Collapse on a thin crust (P) layer with facets (F) on either side of it close to the ground. Surface hoar was also observed 20cms below the surface but was unreactive.

Level 1 Avy Course obs

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/31/2015
Name: Donny
Subject: Level 1 Avy Course obs
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: 9,600-9.100

Avalanches:
Weather: WEATHER: Clear, Calm and temps in the high single digits to low-teens all day.
Snowpack: SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: Obviously, we found the same results as Zach, so today’s bulletin, especially the video explains what we saw. We had massive whumpfing all day with large cracks surrounding us. We had a reactive buried surface hoar layer about 25 to 30 cm down. (CTM12 Q1 SP) This was fairly consistent and widespread, although I am sure it is a local issue as the place is obviously a SH factory. We skied slopes up to 33º and had no signs of instabilities while riding.