Gothic South

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/06/2021
Name: Ian Havlick

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Gothic Shoulder South
Aspect: South, South West, West
Elevation: 9,000-11,400

Avalanches: Only fresh avalanche observed was ~D1.5 on Baldy, off a windloaded southerly facing slope ATL. Likely will be reported by others closer to Baldy today.

Weather: Relatively cold morning, strong solar, moderate westerly winds ATL.

Snowpack: Several large collapses on flat terrain on Washington Gulch valley bottoms. More signs on instability on southerly, low angle terrain but NO signs of instability on southerly slopes with more slope angle. Travelled slopes up to 31º today. Steeper solar aspects were moist by 1300 and rollerballs and small wet loose out of warm, southerly facing terrain on Gothic. Dug one pit on low angle WNW facing slope BTL. Obvious weak layer but fairly faceted overlaying slab not producing propagation.. ECTX and CT30+1 SC.

Purple Ridge

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/04/2021
Name: Alan Bernholtz

 

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Purple ridge skin track
Aspect: East
Elevation: 10,500

 

Avalanches: None observed
Weather: Clear, cool, calm
Snowpack: The party of three discussed the days plan after all looking at the CBAC danger forecast. Purple Ridge. We knew there may be hazards in the snowpack and we decided to check it out. As we toured up the skin track, we heard several large collapses and observed cracking, The discussion was honest and open. We felt we could find a safe route up to the ridge and hoped the snowpack would become deeper and more stable the higher we went. Purple ridge had slid significantly during the last snow event. If we could get up high, it might be better. There were a lot of signs that the snowpack was not stable. Hollow, large facet layers on the ground, variable snowpack and unpredictability. A lot of times the third person would initiate the collapse. As we climbed, I felt uneasy with the terrain and the snowpack. Could we find a safe route up, yes. Was it worth the risk considering the terrain traps and snowpack signs of instability? I did not think so. The group was open and honest and realized there was different levels of risk acceptance. I had not been in the backcountry in several days. I could not justify the risk for the reward. 90% of the time it would have been fine but the 10% made me want to pull the plug on the tour. With the signs yelling at me from the snowpack and the terrain traps all around made me uncomfortable skiing that terrain. We are old friends, and it is hard to be the scardy cat but I was on this day. We turned around, skied conservatively back down to the snowmobiles and then went and skied a different aspect and angle allowing us to have a fun day skiing pow.
Morale of the story, talk, listen understand the risk and feel free to speak up and express your opinion. We will all ski together again.

 

Elkton

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/03/2021
Name: Ben Pritchett

 

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Elkton area
Aspect: South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: Near and Above Treeline

 

Avalanches: One tiny fresh wind slab off the Treasury to Galena ridge.
Weather: Ridgeline Wind Speed: 10-20 mph
Ridgeline Wind Direction: NW
Wind Loading: Previous
Temperature: 15 F
Sky Cover: Few
Weather Description: Clouds increased late morning through the afternoon. Light to moderate northwest winds.
Snowpack: Travelled over alpine south and southeast-facing slopes. Near treeline we travelled on east through south to west. No cracking or collapsing observed. A week ago on a similar route in the same terrain collapsing was common near treeline, but not above. Overnight northwest winds transported snow only near alpine ridgelines. Drifts were soft and posed no threat.

Photo caption: Northwest winds scoured windward alpine ridges and built soft fresh drifts. January 3, 2021.

 

Photos:

Large Remote Trigger

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/03/2021
Name: Joey Carpenter

 

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Ridge btwx West Brush Creek and Deer Creek trail
Aspect: East, South East, South
Elevation: 9.5k-11.1k

 

Avalanches: R2D2 unintentional remote trigger. About 150 feet away from low angle ridgeline. E aspect. 150 ft wide running 1200 vert. Avg crown 65cm with deepest portions reaching 95cms. Slope angle averaged 37 degrees but propagated onto angles as low as 34 in start zone. Shattering cracks on 31-32 degree slopes adjacent to slide path. Ran on 1-2mm facet capped crust. 1F hardness throughout majority of slab w/ 4f nearing the top from recent transport. This avalanche was small relative to the path but I am certain was unsurvivable. It ran through countless trees, rocks and other terrain traps. It snapped trees 3-4.5inches in diameter. The debris pile was 255cm deep at the bottom of the path and set up very firm. The unaffected snow adjacent to the debris pile was 70cm of fist hard facets to the ground which I’m certain the debris wiped out in the path, essentially making the debris pile over 8 feet deep.
Weather: Weather was sunny and warm around 10am at WBC/Deer creek junction with calm winds. Thin clouds filtered in from the southwest throughout the morning and by 1300 had made it 7/8 coverage with S towards gunnison still holding onto blue skies. Weather got progressively more unsettled making recording crown stats difficult due to snow, cold temps and 10-15mph ridge-top winds. S1- snowfall began around 2pm accompanied by continued 10-15mph sustained winds from the SW. A brief period of S2 came through but settled back out to S1-.
Snowpack: Spx on BTL S&SE tilting slopes was thin and weak. Below ~10.5k there was little slab structure if any. Collapses propagated short distances with minor cracking. As I gained elevation, cracking began to propagate further with more substantial cracking shooting ~70 feet and notable slab structure from pole probes. In attached photos of crown “profile” you can see the P- facet capped crust that acted as the bed surface. There was another P- crust below this with ~5cm of facets above and below. The spx from the 30cm to the ground started at 1f and slowly degraded to about F hard basal facets. The slab was 1F+ to 4f-, bottom up. The unpredictable nature of the avalanche problems this year are terrifying. Please be careful out there friends.

 

Photos:

Hunting a Dragon

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/03/2021
Name: Ben Ammon

 

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Far Side Coney’s
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: Up to 11,000′

 

Avalanches: No new ones observed.
Weather: Mod winds NW
Morning sun had warmed S and SE surfaces
Snow flurries through the afternoon, no accumulation noted
Snowpack: Several collapses on untracked W-facing slopes BTL, none observed on the untracked E and NE BTL slopes we traveled on.
NE aspect at 10,800′ had HS of 85cm, but much greater if you looked for wind-loaded pockets right below the ridgeline along Coney’s.
ECTN24 down 50cm on 12/10 interface
PST 45/100 END down 50cm on 12/10 interface

 

Washington Gulch Crack

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/03/2021
Name: Andrew Breibart

 

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Washington Gulch-Snodgrass T.H.
Aspect: West, North West
Elevation: BTL

 

Avalanches: NA. Didn’t hunt for slides on Gothic or Anthracite Mesa.
Weather: For the majority of the day, mostly cloudy and calm in our area.
Snowpack: cracking within 10 to 15 of new and old skin tracks on slopes <20 degrees. Cracks were less than 15 feet in length and not dendritic. Snow is not supportive as boot pen is about 14 inches. One whump was heard by group when moving from the road to the hillslope between the road and spruce fir forest.

 

Irwin Obs

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/01/2021
Name: Mike Barney

 

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: below Round Two, Irwin
Aspect: West
Elevation: 11,100′

 

Avalanches: SS-AS-R1-D1-O 50 to 60cm deep, 50′ wide, and ran 150′ triggered on Friday (1/1/2021)
Weather: Light to Mod southwest winds scattered clouds and around 17F.
Snowpack: NTL west aspect- 50 to 110cm HS, with a pencil to knife hard mid-pack layer and about 25cm of depth hoar on the ground. BTL west aspect sheltered from the wind- 80cm HS with 4F- mid-pack and about 25cm of depth hoar at the base.

 

Photos:

Faceted

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/03/2021

 

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Anthracite Region
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 9200

Avalanches: No evidence of recent Avalanche Activity
Weather: Calm cold and Humid up high
Snowpack: Skiing 30 degrees or less and still whumphing in certain areas of the snowpack on the uphill .. our lovely persistant slab issue I suspect.

Widespread faceting and surface hoar:Faceted snow refers to snow grains within the snowpack that have transformed into larger, angular grains. Facets have weak bonds with neighboring snow grains.

If you don’t care about the consequences , get beyond yourself and consider the danger you put others in when you need to be rescued.

 

Photos:

Skier Triggered Slide on Axtel

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Accidents, 2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/02/2021

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: First Bowl
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 11,350

Avalanches: 1 Skier Triggered D2 (red arrow). On our first lap (green arrow) we noticed no real signs of instability (no collapsing or cracking). Our stability tests were benign and our ski cuts produced no results. On our second lap while descending the ridge towards our intended chute, we noted that the snow seemed significantly more faceted and had a “trapdoor feel”. Skier 1 skied approx. 150ft into the chute before pulling out into the trees. Skier two followed and while making a final turn out of the chute to regroup with skier one, triggered the slide and was carried approx. 50ft downslope before skiing out of the path of the slab. The crown appeared to range between 1-2+ft and the debris ran approx. 700ft. The slab failed on October/November facets near or at the ground. There were no injuries. We are both incredibly thankful for the positive outcome.

Weather: Mix of sun & cloud. Light to moderate wind.
Snowpack: Unpredictable and frightening.
We also noticed surface hoar on every inch of terrain we traveled through, up to 5mm in size.

 

Photos:

Stubborn Collapses

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 01/02/2021
Name: Ben Ammon

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Snodgrass
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: BTL

Weather: Winds calm to light BTL
Skies clear to scattered
Snowpack: Still observed multiple collapses but some much more stubborn than in past days. One collapse occurred while the group was taking a break, and people were standing and moving around, and then someone found the right spot and the whole meadow dropped.
We dug at 10,900 feet on a NE aspect that was very sheltered and near the dark timber.
HS 80cm 35cm F hard FC, 20cm 1F- mixed forms (12/10 storm), 25cm F-4F DF/FC (12/28 storm)
CT19 down 25cm (12/10 interface) and CT25 SC down 45cm (Nov FC)
ECTN29 down 45cm
ECTN24 down 45cm