Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 03/28/2020
Name: Steve banks
Subject: Wind slabs
Aspect: West
Elevation: 11,000

Avalanches: 3x D1 wind slabs somewhat intentionally triggered on suspect terrain features in near treeline type terrain.

Weather: In and out snow showers with some sunny breaks as well. Light WSW winds. Cold temps but warm periods in sheltered areas when the sun popped out.

Snowpack: Up to a foot of new snow over a soft-ish crust. New snow was dense and “slabby” and not amazingly well bonded to old surfaces. Did not look below the new snow old snow interface.

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 03/28/2020
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Upper Washington Gulch
Aspect: East, South
Elevation: 10,500-12,500

Avalanches: Kicking cornices onto an easterly facing slope at ~11,700ft, mostly produced loose snow avalanches and a few thin wind slabs. The largest cornice was about a VW Jetta size. That one was a hair-trigger, as it had grown off of a faceted root and a rocky outcrop. That Jetta landed on a loaded section of the slope below, that was further perched between other rock outcrops. A 45 to 55cm slab further pulled out. That slab didn’t propagate notably far in the terrain and produced no results on the more uniform snowpack it eventually ladened on. D1.5 in size.

Weather: Broken cloud cover with bits of sun coming and going. The Ruby Range hung in the clouds the most and of course further east appeared to have fewer clouds. Winds appeared to be the strongest in the morning. Around 10am at the trailhead blowing snow was light, by the time we claimed into the alpine midday, blowing snow was also light.

Snowpack: Well, I called about 5″ of recent new snow near Elkton. My partner called 1″, I’m going to go with my number… Less snow than expected. The previous winds made measuring new snow depths pointless near and above treeline. Lots of hard wind-board from the extreme wind event, sitting just under the new snow. Of course, lots of old crusts out there too making for some scrappy, but low hazard skiing. The main avalanche problems encountered where fresh Wind Slabs and Cornice Hazards.

The extreme wind event made some monster cornices. No wonder we saw so many big avalanches below corniced ridgelines.

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 03/28/2020
Name: billy barr
Subject: Gothic 7am Weather Update

Weather: Light, scattered snow Friday with scattered light, but dense, snow overnight. Totals ar 2″ new snow with 0.20″ water with snowpack at 47″. It is currently cloudy with a very light snow and the low temp. 10F, which is also the current. Wind is currently light from the west and was moderate during the night. Wind continued to move snow yesterday.

Location: Cement Creek Area
Date of Observation: 03/28/2020
Name: Cosmo
Subject: Cement Creek Snow
Elevation: 9300′
Weather: 1 inch of new snow on the ground this morning.

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 03/27/2020
Name: Eric Murrow & Evan Ross
Subject: Schuylkill Ridge near treeline
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 8900 – 11400′

Avalanches:By early afternoon we could trigger quick running D1 Dry Loose avalanches on steep terrain running on crusts or stiff windboards.

Weather: Overcast skies with light snowfall. Snowfall rates picked up around 1pm to S1 rate. Winds were blowing from the southwest at the ridgetop transporting the new snow. New snow accumulations were 4.5 inches at 345pm (11,400′).

Snowpack: Ascended through shaded below treeline terrain up to 11,400′. Below treeline slopes had melt/freeze crusts on all aspects except those very close to due north. No signs of instability while ascending shaded terrain – found around 40cm snow above the 3/18 interface on sheltered slopes.

We dug a test profile near a recent avalanche – just one small terrain feature away. Expected to find a stout Wind Slab below ridge top, but dense wind-deposited snow tapered off quickly to just a few inches thick 20 feet below ridgetop. At this drifted site there was 65cm of snow resting above the 3/18 interface. ECT produced propagating results at three interfaces – an easy result beneath the stout windboard (from the recent wind event), a moderate result in a soft layer in the middle of the slab, and a hard result above the 3/18 crust (likely interface for the nearby recent avalanche). The column slid into the pit with energy above the 3/18 crust ‘cash register’ style. See profile photo.

We could easily produce Dry Loose avalanches in the 6 or so inches of new snow on the leeward side of the ridge. They quickly picked up speed on the old surfaces of melt/freeze crusts or windboard.

Location: Cement Creek Area
Date of Observation: 03/26/2020
Name: Cosmo
Subject: Cement mtn slides
Aspect: North East

Avalanches:Numerous slides on NE facing slope below wind loaded ridge. Ridgeline elevation is just below 12k’. Some look like wind slabs failing. Others might have been triggered by cornice fall or roller balls falling off cliffs on afternoon of 3/25. A couple stepped down into deeper layers further down the slope.
Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 03/26/2020
Name: Eric Murrow
Subject: Lots of avalanches from wind event

Avalanches:Numerous large and very large avalanches in near and above treeline terrain. Many appeared to have been triggered by cornice fall yesterday evening, last night, and this morning. See photos for a tour.
Whetstone – Main Bowl D2, 2x Hidden Lake Bowl, D2 & D3
Baldy – Nirvana Bowl, D2.5
Schuylkill Ridge – D2
Angle Pass- D2
Gothic – 2x East Face, D3
Mt Emmons – Wolverine, D2
Scarp Ridge – 4x D3, 2x D2
Western Basin in Anthracite Range – 2x D2.5

Photos: