Avalanches: None observed, but some predictable pockets of power were popping out in steeper trees where there were rollovers. This big round of new snow seems quite tender. It was unconsolidated, so a little surface sloughing, but when the new layer slabs up, it could be interesting.

Don’t drive your sled into a creek.

Weather: Snowing (s1) with no to very light winds from the north.

Snowpack: 18 – 24″ of unconsolidated pow on top of a supportive crust or on top of more hollow snow.

Avalanches: We received a report of a skier triggered avalanche on Schuykill Ridge above the Slate River today. The skier was caught, carried, and injured. The victim was evacuated by helicopter to Gunnison, and is reportedly in stable condition. Our sincere condolences go out to the victim, family, and friends. The slide was reportedly triggered near the ridgeline on Schuykill Ridge, as the skier was dropping into a North or Northeast facing bowl near treeline. It broke an estimated 25-30′ wide, and several feet deep. The skier was carried approximately 150 to 200 feet before getting stopped by a tree, and the debris ran roughly 500 feet. A forecaster from the CBAC will be investigating the avalanche tomorrow, and we will post information as it becomes available.

Weather: Approximately 1in of low density snow fell overnight in the tour area. Light snow in the morning clearing around 9:30. Clouds returned with light snow around 1230. Winds were light from the northwest on ridgetops.

Snowpack: Little evidence of overnight wind transport. Yesterday’s tracks were not completely obscured, and little evidence of deposition from west winds was noted along the ridge. Snow immediately below ridge was still soft. Released one small shallow slab on a crossloaded feature although it failed to propagate more than 10ft. No other signs of instability were noted. Closer to the valley bottom the effect of temperature was evident as the surface snow became much more dense and cohesive.

Name: Chad Reich
Title: Skiing
Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/17/2014
Aspect: South East
Elevation: 12,400

Avalanches: Observed 2 slides that had already happened on Axtel’s north face below the Wang Chung face, but we couldn’t tell if they were natural or skier-triggered. They were each R1’s, but they would probably have been big enough to injure or kill a skier.

Weather: Lightly snowing (>s1), with strong and sustained winds on the upwards of 20 mph coming from the N. Despite the winds, no cross/lee loading was observed, but it was snowing….Temps were about 20 at the TH and 10 at the summit.

Snowpack: About 4-6″ of new, unconsolidated pow on top of a firm, supportable crust. No high speed sloughing observed on the way down.

Name: Z. Guy, E. Ross
Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 12/15/2014
Aspect: North, East, South
Elevation: 10,000-11,400

Weather: Mostly clear sky by noon. Calm winds and cold temps.

Snowpack: About 10-12″ of total storm snow in the Anthracites. This snow was very light and lacked a slab on most NTL and BTL slopes. A few slopes in these areas has seen previous wind effect with more cohesive slabs. The recent HST heated quickly and became moist on south aspects as the sun came out mid day, with many roller balls on NTL and BTL south facing slopes. Good bonding to the Dec 13th MFcr on southerly aspects. Other aspects stayed dry and cool through the day. We saw no signs of instability other than sluffing on steep slopes that have seen skier traffic before the recent storm on the 13th.

Avalanches: Several natural and human triggered loose snow avalanches on NTL and BTL slopes . One large natural slab in East Bowl from early on the morning of the 15th.  Crown averaged roughly 45 cm thick, up to an estimated 90 cm. The slab was 1F- at the bottom up to Fist at the top. It failed on the Dec 13th NSF layer, (1-2mm facets, Fist hard). It was about 800 feet wide and ran 500 vertical. Start zone at 10,900 feet, east-facing aspect. SS-N-R3-D2-I Video here: http://youtu.be/3OdyyqCKfBM

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Crown averaged roughly 45 cm thick, up to an estimated 90 cm. The slab was 1F- at the bottom up to Fist at the top. It failed on the Dec 13th NSF layer, (1-2mm facets, Fist hard). It was about 800 feet wide and ran 500 vertical. Start zone at 10,900 feet, east-facing aspect. SS-N-R3-D2-I Video here: http://youtu.be/3OdyyqCKfBM

Sloughing on an eastern slope at 11,500ft

Northwest slope at 11,000ft that has seen major wind erosion this season and was likely the fetch for the large slab avalanche on East Bowl.

Date of Observation: 12/15/2014
Aspect: South East
Elevation: 12400

Weather: Snowing hard before dawn, 17 degrees, gusty winds at and above tree line.

Avalanches: Cornice kicking released small sloughs running 300 feet with minimal energy.

Snowpack: Firm bottom. Light powder on top, 4-8 inches new.

Name: Nick Schley
Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/15/2014
Aspect: East, South East, South
Elevation: 8,900-11,500

Avalanches: We enjoyed deep skiing on eastern aspects from 32-38 degrees, with clean run outs and good visibility. Multiple loose snow skier triggered avalanches occurred on slopes steeper than 35 degrees all to be classified as R-1 D-1 and running relatively slow. The most significant of which ran ~150 vertical ft and did not gouge to the ground. We opted out of steeped wooded terrain near 10,000 ft skiing gunsight pass road back to slate river instead.

Weather: Broken sky’s with brief stints of S-1 snow before 9:00am, Clear sky’s after 10:00, light NW winds at ridgetops near 11,500ft.

Snowpack: New snow ranged between 2.5″ at the car to 7” near and above treeline. Storm snow was low density and lacked cohesive “slabby” characteristics near tree line. Periods of light to moderate snow transport were observed near Mount Emmons summit, possibly creating touchy wind slabs but lower elevation slopes showed signs of little blowing snow last night. 1-3cm winds slabs were encountered intermittently on southerly slopes. North facing slopes remain entirely rotten with very little density change and an average HS of 50cm near treeline. Eastern slopes also held early entirely faceted pack near and above treeline while lower elevation slopes had thin unsupportable crusts on the Dec. 13 interface. Southern aspects varied in relationship with shade. Shadier slopes often had ski pen 45, while sun exposed slopes held supportable crusts. By 13:00 thin solar crusts had developed on top of new snow with southern tilts around 9,200ft.