Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 03/12/2020
Name: Billy
Subject: Gothic snowfall

Weather: Only light snowfall but with a lot of water and the 2″ that fell overnight was 0.28″ water and almost all graupel which will not bond to anything until it warms up and melts. Total 24 hour total is 3½” new snow and 0.44″ of water. Currently overcast with a very light off and on snowfall. Snowpack holding at 46″ deep and very warm overnight with the temp. range 29 to 33F and currently 30F. Only light to no west wind. billy

Location: Cement Creek Area
Date of Observation: 03/12/2020
Name: Cosmo
Subject: Cement creek
Elevation: 9300’
Weather: 2.5” new snow @ 6:30am. Overnight low of about 30 degrees.

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 03/11/2020
Name: Eric Murrow
Subject: Afternoon wet snow check
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: 9,200′ – 11,500′

Weather: Overcast skiers after 11 am with a lowering ceiling throughout the afternoon. By 3pm visibility became obscured from low clouds. Light snow throughout the afternoon but no real accumulations. Light winds at ridgetop.

Snowpack: Poked a few holes on south and southeast facing slopes below treeline in the snow favored part of the forecast area. HS ranged from about 90 to 120 cm. Water from last week’s warm spell drained to the ground at all locations on south and southeast below treeline. Surfaces were 1-2 inches of moist, recent snowfall with crust between 5 to 10 cm below. Crusts were supportive to boots and wet loose avalanches concerns were not present through 330pm. One additional pit on a slightly drifted, southeast slope at 11,400′, I found snow depth around 180cm with numerous ice lens’ and percolation columns throughout the snowpack. Water appears to have drained through the snowpack to the ground at this site as well.

Shaded slopes through 11,500 feet had 5 to 6 inches of accumulations over the past few days. The top inch or two of recent snow was moist, and produced pinwheels and roller balls while skiing, but was short of producing Wet Loose avalanches.  Snowpack below the surface was dry and winter-like.

Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 03/11/2020
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Gothic Mountain
Aspect: North East, East, South, South West
Elevation: 9,500-12,500

Weather: Low level fog/clouds over the upper Crested Butte Valley in the AM hours. Mostly cloudy sky above with the sun shining through a few holes. Light winds at ridgeline. S-1 precipitation at times with no notable accumulation. Light misting and rain around sunset in CB. That rain didn’t appear to add much measurable water. While watching outdoor furniture, chairs became wet, but never started dripping #science.

Snowpack: No avalanche concerns encountered on a 8am to 1pm tour. Southerly slopes remained supportive and soft surface crusts stayed well intact. Upper elevation easterly slopes had about 5-6″ of soft snow that has accumulated this week with no avalanche concerns or wind slab issues encountered. Below 10,500ft on easterly slopes ski pen was an inch or two with soft crust topping the rest of the snowpack. S-1 precipitation at times with accumulations near 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 03/11/2020
Name: Zach Kinler
Subject: Elkton Plot and BTL NE
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: 9,000′-10,400′

Avalanches: No new avalanches observed.

Weather: Overcast with off and on snow showers, S2 max. 1.5″ of wet accumulations above 10,000′. Light down valley NW breeze with temps in the mid-30s.

Snowpack: At the Elkton Study Plot, the 152 cm snowpack has gone isothermal and is moist to the ground. Free water has pooled and frozen very consistently along multiple MFcr in the upper snowpack. There is no persistent slab concern in this snowpack as previous weak layers are now ice lens’ or moist, rounded and un-reactive. This site receives strong solar radiation this time of year and is tilted slightly south.

On a NE slope at 10,000′, HS was the same but the overall structure was quite different. There was no free water or crusts in this pack. The February snow is a Fist-1F slab resting over 4F rounding facets. This snowpack was nearly isothermal and slightly moist however faceted layers are still weak and moderate ECTP results were observed at the 2/3 interface(2mm facets). While unlikely to trigger currently, a large loading event may still stress this snowpack.

Elkton Plot

Anthracite Mesa

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 03/11/2020
Subject: RMBL Study Plot 03/11/2020

Snowpack:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 03/10/2020
Name: Zach Kinler
Subject: Low elevation southerlies
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 9,000′-9,500′

Avalanches:
No new avalanches observed

Weather: Broken to Overcast skies, temps in the mid-30s, Consistent down valley breeze kept things cool in the lower Slate River Valley.

Snowpack: 1″ of wet snow resting on crusts from E-S-W. Moist crusts remained supportive to skis and with a little bit of new snow, skied decently. Wet Loose avalanche issues were not encountered on this terrain as clouds and wind limited heating with little new snow.