Avalanche Mitigation work

CB Avalanche Center2016-17 Observations

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/17/2016
Name: CB Patrol
Subject: Avalanche Mitigation work
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: BTL

Avalanches: BTL on N-E aspects several small road cuts’ came out’ with ski cuts and explosives failing on the ground in terrain over 38 degrees. In terrain under 38 degrees, failure occurred in the upper 20 cm of the pack on graupel layer.

ATL NNE aspect 11,500-11,300 Big Chute/Paradise Cliffs:2x HS-AE-R3-D2-O/G. These slides were stubborn to trigger but when tested with explosives produced failures to the ground in terrain steeper than 35 degrees.
Weather: P/C
Snowpack: In the East River sector of CBMR: Depth of snow 80-110cm. New snow (40-60cm) sitting on top of a variety of facets. A graupel layer 20 cm down was the reactive problem layer of the morning BTL on N-E aspects. Lots of collapsing and cracking. Some cracks were depth of snow pack where the wind effected the slope, all in the top 20 cm of the snowpack.