CBAC staff will be at the Ohio Pass Trailhead this Saturday, January 14th providing up-to-the-minute reports and conditions from the backcountry. Stop and say “hey” and grab a free map, snacks, rescue cards and stickers.
Lower Cement Creek
Date of Observation: 01/10/2023
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek trailhead to below treeline hills around Warm Springs.
Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Light snowfall in the late morning and ending by noon. New snow a denser 5 inches. Westerly winds blowing at moderate speeds with some strong gusts transporting snow at upper elevations. Mild air temperatures.
Snowpack: While walking through flat terrain around a creek bottom I experienced frequent collapsing running up to 100 feet breaking on a mid-December weak layer (see images). The depth in this area was around 80cm with a 45cm 4-finger slab. Touring around I experienced collapsing on west through north through easterly aspects with northerly terrain being the least frequent. Snowpack tests showed moderate propagating results. In this area and elevation, the terrain facing southeast, south, and southwest generally was too shallow and lacked a slab for an avalanche problem.
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- A test profile from a northerly slope breaking on a thin layer of depth hoar near the ground.
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- Easterly slope with propagating results.
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- One of many collapses at valley bottom breaking the edges of the slab into the river. You can see the expected slab size below treeline in this area.
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- This is the Walrod Powerline avalanche path that appears to have enough volume to reach Walrod Road. The southeasterly side does not look concerning, just the east-facing terrain looks to be able to produce a slab avalanche.
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- Another example of the thin snow coverage on southerly terrain and the quick transition to slab formation on east aspects.
Lower Wolverine Basin
Date of Observation: 01/10/2023
Name: Zach Kinler and Mark Gober
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Slate River TH to Gunsight Pass Rd to lower Wolverine Basin
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: No new avalanches observed. Documented several large natural avalanches that likely failed around 1/4. All were on East aspects below treeline and failed on the 12/21 interface. The largest of these slides propagated close to 500 feet wide, bent a few trees over, and snapped some small branches.
Weather: Warm, light to moderate snow until around 11:00am, calm winds up till about 10,000′ where light winds were present. Stronger winds were seen moving snow on adjacent ridgelines.
Snowpack: Traveled on North and East aspects from 9,000-10,400′. 7″-8″ of new snow, a couple of shovel tilt tests did not produce failures at the new/old interface. HS in this area was at or just above 150cm. The snowpack was quiet on this tour with no cracking or collapses observed skinning up, jumping on small test slopes or when taking skis off and stepping down into the pack. A profile on an East aspect at 10,400′ produced and ECTX and PST 40/100 END on the 12/21 interface which was 100 cm deep. The slab here was up to 1F+ and the weak layer was 4F- and rounding. The 11/28 interface was only 10cm thick at the bottom of the snowpack.
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- Widespread previous activity in this zone.
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- View of largest slide which likely failed around 1/4
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- The largest slide bent trees and snapped a few small branches
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- Profile, East aspect BTL
New Encyclopedia on Avalanche.org
We’re excited to announce the release of a completely new encyclopedia on avalanche.org. We think it’s a great resource for learning or refreshing your avalanche knowledge, with over 250 terms organized into sections relating to avalanches, snowpack, terrain, weather, and human factors. CBAC lead forecaster Zach Guy authored this project with contributions and revisions from the National Avalanche Center, the Sawtooth Avalanche Center, and the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center. The American Avalanche Association and the National Avalanche Center orchestrated and funded the project.
Here’s the link, which is also under our resources tab: https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/
Gothic Weather report
Date of Observation: 01/10/2023
Name: Billy Barr
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite weather.
Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Cloudy and mild overnight with very light snow after dark becoming moderate around midnight and holding through the night with 6½” new and a dense 0.61″ of water. Currently calm with moderate snow and 23F after a low of 21F. Yesterday’s high 29F with the snowpack at 52″.
Snowpack:
Sunny side surface tour
Date of Observation: 01/09/2023
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch Road to southern side of Baldy.
Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Overcast skies by around 11 am. Periodic light snowfall during the afternoon added up to just less than one inch. Moderate westerly winds with strong gusts at upper elevations. Blowing snow and flagging off the highest terrain.
Snowpack: I rolled through southerly aspects through 11,800 feet checking on surface crust formation from the past few days. A barely discernable crust formed on east aspects that slowly increased in thickness as I swung into southeast, south, and southwest aspects. South and southwest terrain developed a 3cm crust. The snow below the crusts remain soft, but faceting was quite minimal; no real surprise as this snow accumulated last Friday.
A test profile on a southeast slope at 10,000′ (depth 175cm) did not produce any propagating results on the weak layer below the Holiday Slab. Weak layers in the middle and bottom of the snowpack are 4-finger hardness and show signs of rounding.
I did not find any Surface Hoar on my tour around Washington Gulch from the humid air this past weekend.
Photos:-
- A test profile from a southeast slope with a depth of 175cm near Elkton. No propagating results. Weak layers remain softer than the slab above but are showing signs of rounding.
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- A 3 cm surface crust from a south slope. Not supportive to skis.
Documenting old crowns in Cement Creek area
Date of Observation: 01/08/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Double Top
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more previously undocumented avalanches from the recent cycles, sometime between 1/1 and 1/4
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- Italian (SW’ly)
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- Double Top (E/SE)
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- Cement Creek (West)
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- Peak 12830
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- Hunter Hill
Documenting old crowns near Brush Creek and Double Top
Date of Observation: 01/08/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Double Top
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Extensive avalanche activity from the New Year cycle, especially near to just below treeline. Some may have run during the 1/3-1/4 cycle as well, hard to say for sure.
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- West Brush (Easterly)
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- Teo Ridge (NE’ly)
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- Teo Ridge (NE’ly)
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- Double Top (NE’ly)
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- Double Top (NE’ly)
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- Timbered Ridge (SE/E)
New Accidents Map
We just published an interactive accidents map that allows users to explore and read reports of avalanche fatalities, injuries, and burials in the Crested Butte forecast area as a learning resource. You can access the map under the “Resources” tab on our website, or at this link. Although we did our best to dig up old accident accounts, some of our records may be incomplete.
Yule Creek avalanche
Date of Observation: 01/08/2023
Name: Dylan Craaybeek
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Yule Creek
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Recent avalanche above Yule Creek, likely from 1/6 storm. See photo
