Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/31/2020
Name: MR
Subject: popped a small windslab. Also it was windy.
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 11,000

Avalanches: unintentionally popped a small inconsequential windslab on an obvious convexity, 11,000′ NE aspect Baxter Basin, see photo. Light went extremely flat and mistakenly skied over the roll. Not a problem but points to potential for the problem in bigger terrain.

Weather: Big wind. Flagging off peaks, gusts swirling snow above treeline.

Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/30/2020
Name: ADB
Subject: snow survey at bottom of red lady glades
Aspect: South
Elevation: BTL

Weather: Clear in the AM; calm; 6 degrees F

Snowpack: Average snow depth is 30. 6 inches
Water content is 7.4 inches
sun crust
about 1 inch of new snow in last 24 hours.

Location: Brush Creek Area
Date of Observation: 01/29/2020
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Brush Creek
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: BTL

Weather: Sky was already clearing by sunset with few clouds through the day. Thicker clouds looked to hang out over by the Ruby Range. Light winds.

Snowpack: General weak snowpack, but not necessarily confidence-inspiring. HS average near 100cm. Ski pen was surprisingly supportable at around 10-15cm, but boot pen was still most of the snowpack. At the lower elevations traveled, the weakest facets near the ground were the layer of concern. I would estimate a little higher in the terrain with more snowpack structure and the mid-pack weak layers could have been more problematic or better defined. On one hand, I wasn’t surprised by the lack of signs of instability while hunting for them, on the other, I didn’t find any confidence in the snowpack and didn’t care to push into steeper terrain.

One test profile on a protected slope at 10,400ft on a NE aspect, 33-degree slope. HS 125. ECT N results in the middle and upper snowpack. Those layers of snow were not drastically different from one another and the whole thing was faceting together. I’d estimate that more concerning structure could have been found higher in the terrain or where the HS was greater. There were about 5cm of F hard facets near the ground and that was the layer of concern in this profile.

Low in the Brush Creek Drainage, there wasn’t much snowpack yet and it was way more punchy. You had to get up towards Teo to start developing the snowpack described. The south side of Teo was looking generally thin and not too concerning. Cross-loaded terrain down low could have had better structure, or up in the alpine.

Location: Cement Creek Area
Date of Observation: 01/29/2020
Subject: Taylor Park Near & Above Treeline
Aspect: North East, East, South East

Weather: Clear skies; very light, northerly wind; very cold (inversion) at valley floor warming into the 20’s on ascent.

Snowpack: Wind loaded east aspect HS 145cm; bottom 90cm 4F to F facets; 25cm 1F persistent slab on top of that; followed by 25cm soft slab (more recent snow); topped by a 5cm wind crust resting on possible surface hoar. CT29 with a sudden collapse at the ground. ECT did not produce any results in the upper portion of the snowpack or at the ground. We dug our pit in the deepest portion of the slope. Given the CT result, our main concern was collapsing the snowpack at the ground at a shallower point on the slope. Picture shows the slabs in the upper snowpack that seemed well bonded and fairly unreactive. Avoided the steepest portion of the slope and skied creamy, low-angle powder.

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/29/2020
Subject: Snowmobile Triggered Avalanche
Aspect: South West
Elevation: BTL

Avalanches: Kebler Pass Area. SW Aspect. Rider partially buried. triggered around 2pm. Clouds didn’t develop as forecasted. Partly Cloudy. Clouds a bit thicker right on the Ruby Range. High temps in the area near 30.

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/29/2020
Name: RMBL Study Plot 01/29/2020