Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 02/26/2020
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Near Gothic Mountain
Aspect: East, South
Elevation: 9,500-11,500

Weather: Clear sky in the morning, with increasing clouds and a few flakes in the afternoon. Winds remained light for our area. Didn’t notice much blowing snow.

Snowpack: Spent a good bit of time on SE in the 11,000-11,500ft elevation ban. 20cm of recent snow from last Sunday over a supportable crust. The early February Crusts could be felt with a prob about 45cm down. Those lower crusts felt well insulated and would need a heavy load to be effected. All in all, no current concerns were found in this terrain. HS was in the 145-150cm range.

Easterly terrain dropping toward the Gothic Valley was all messed up from the recent northerly winds. Those slopes had little cross-loading and had ugly wind effected snow surfaces. Unloading was the observed theme on these slopes, the same as on northerly slopes traveled on yesterday.

Looking around the area, the typical down valley winds didn’t appear to have formed from the recent northerly winds and cross-loading in the normal areas wasn’t observed.

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 02/26/2020
Name: Zach Kinler

Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, North West

Elevation: 9,000- 11,000

Avalanches:

One D2 wind slab on a cross-loaded west facing gully on Gothic. Fairly quiet on north and east aspects down the Ruby Range.

Weather: Cold start well below zero but once out of the valley bottom temps warmed into the upper 20s. Calm, clear conditions gave way to passing clouds, increased NW wind and very light flurries by 14:00 as a disturbance passed through.

Snowpack: At Elkton Study Plot HS: 160 cm. Most concerning layer is the 2/3 MFcr with 1.5 mm rounding facets below. No results on CT or ECT however a PST score of 45/100 END indicates the lingering possibility of propagation if failure could be initiated. Highly variable surfaces on the windward side of the compass as many features have been scoured leaving deposits nearby in gullies, inset features and behind ribs and trees.

Elkton Study Plot

Gothic west side with a recent avalanche and evidence of recent winds.

Location: Brush Creek Area
Date of Observation: 02/26/2020
Name: Eric Murrow
Subject: Teocalli Avalanche
Aspect: South East, South
Elevation: above treeline

Avalanches: Spotted a recent avalanche on the sunny side of Teocalli in the early morning. Photo is a bit blurry but through binoculars, it appeared as though the crown was drifted over a bit. Likely failed sometime on 2/25. It also released a  slab in the apron out of view on SE aspect which looks to have failed in old snow as well.

Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 02/25/2020
Name: Steve Banks
Subject: Gothic Obs

Avalanches: D1 wind slab releases on the East Face of Gothic. Looks like most of the main line, but shallow and at various times. Several small crowns lower down above cliffy terrain.

Weather: Farkin cold. Single digits to teens with a biting North wind. Wind did taper in the afternoon. Skies cleared through the day and AM flurries amounted to nothing. Obvious wind transported snow in the alpine all day.

Snowpack: It’s shallow out here. We stayed in the valley today but the snowpack is notably weaker and more faceted than surrounding areas. New stiff windboard present even BTL on exposed slopes.

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 02/25/2020
Name: Evan Ross
Aspect: North East, South East
Elevation: 9,500-11,500

Weather: Overcast sky with very light snow in the morning became partly cloudy by mid-day. Temps felt very cold and were in the teens. Light to Moderate northerly winds with some blowing snow NTL.

Snowpack: Skiing aggressively in the terrain with now signs to instability. Some minimal surface sluffing in steep terrain, but the northerly winds and cold temps have hardened up the snow surfaces on northerly terrain. Those same northeasterly start zones were getting blown out the northerly winds.

A short section of SE low elevation terrain had about 5″ of recent snow on the most recent crust. That snow was bounded well to the crust and those crusts were also supportable. Thicker drifts could be found on cross-loaded terrain.

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 02/25/2020
Name: Zach Kinler

Aspect: North, North East, South East, South

Elevation: 10,000′-11,200′

Avalanches:

Observed 1 shallow slab avalanche low on slope just above a cliff band on Axtel. Poor vis prevented good views of the Ruby Range.

Weather: Partly Cloudy and Cold with light-moderate northerly winds near and below tree line. 10F at trailhead to start and finish tour, not sure it warmed much in between. Blowing snow observed in open areas at all elevations.

Snowpack: Avoided drifted slopes greater than 35 degrees. Below tree line sheltered north aspects had 12″-15″ snow since 2/23. Quick hand shears yielded stubborn results as new snow was bonding well. No signs of instability skiing on slopes over 35 degrees. Once on the ridgeline the winds were transporting snow into 1-2 ft drifts.
Quick pit on SE at 11,200 HS:170 cm PF: 45 cm. 3 MFcr in the upper snowpack all produced non-propagating ECT results. No signs of instability on this sheltered slope.

Mt Axtell, north aspect

SE 11,200′

Wind transport from northerly winds near treeline.

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 02/25/2020
Subject: D1 BTL 80º NE
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 10200

Avalanches: D1-1.5 on rollover 45º broke on the new snow/old snow interface about 8″ -10″ deep. about 4m wide crown & ran about 40-50m until the slope flattened out to high 20ºs into the timber. Enough to knock you down given the slope angle. Observations from below were blocked by trees so relying on what ski partner described.

Small open slope in wind sheltered trees with branches still loaded with storm snow.

Weather: Hoth: Cold & Windy, Mostly overcast giving way to increasing sun around noon.

Snowpack: 120-160cm +
mostly supportive, ski pen ~20-30cm with some trapdoors around rocks & logs in steep sections.

ski pole handle probing found 4F midpack decreasing to 4F- & Fist towards ground.

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 02/25/2020
Name: Ian Havlick
Subject: Kebler Pass Obs
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 10,000-12,000

Avalanches: Most significant avalanche observed was a size 2 natural slab avalanche failing mid morning mid slope Ruby Dyke zone, east facing above treeline. Other small skier triggered windslabs in our tenure.

Weather: Cold cold cold. below zero temperatures at ridge top this morning, warmed into low teens. Cold northerly winds persisted most of morning. Storm total from last 48hrs 6.5″ .4 SWE.

Snowpack: Snowpack mostly stable in terrain traveled, though did not touch the true wind loaded terrain in surrounding backcountry. Given natural avalanche this morning, would guess stability is still questionable in the high alpine where wind loading continues. Dense but stable windward continues to provide variable ski quality, though bonding well to underlying snowpack on all but steepest, wind loaded terrain traveled today.