Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/13/2019
Name: AIARE Level 1

Subject: Snodgrass NE
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 9400′ – 9800′

Avalanches:

N/O

Weather: Sunny Calm Day, mostly Bluebird

Snowpack: 100-120cm of snow observed. Persistent slab present present in multiple depths of the snowpack. Sudden results from CT’s on deeper layer of facets 2-3 mm, 95 cm down with 4F-F Slabs above. & one propagating result on a buried surface hoar layer of about 5-6 mm SH layer 30-40 cm from surface. F- 4F Soft Slab above this Buried SH. We tracked this SH layer throughout the terrain and seemed to be present from 9800’ – 9400’
Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/13/2019
Name: Avy 2 – David Bumgarner

Subject: Snodgrass tour
Aspect: East
Elevation: 10, 192

Avalanches:

We observed a small slide in Abby Lane below the convex roll (photo attached) this slide was not there during our skin up. The skin track was to the skiers left of the slide. It seems that this slide was remotely triggered by the group in front of us.
The slide was on a convex aspect of the slope that was much shallower and steeper (38 degrees) than the rest of the slope. It seemed to be in a cross loaded area.

Weather: Sky: Clear
Air Temp: -4c
Wind: Calm
Precip: None

Snowpack: Pits: These three pits were 5m from each other

HS: 115cm
CT16 SC 28cm down ECTN17 28cm down on buried SH
CT21 SP 63cm down ECTN27 63cm down on buried SH
Basel Facets where working towards rounding

HS: 110cm
CT11 SC 30cm down
CT19 SC 62cm down ECTP31 SC?

HS: 100cm
CT22SC 25cm down ECTN16
CT26cm 48cm down ECTN26
Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/13/2019
Name: Evan Ross

Subject: Few clouds, calm and a couple fresh inches. Ruby Range.
Aspect: North East, East, South East
Elevation: 10,500-13,000

Avalanches:

Small sluffs

Weather: Few clouds and calm winds. That sun was out in force, but air temps still felt cool.

Snowpack: No formal stability tests preformed, and no obvious signs to instability observed. Used a snowmobile on steep, easterly, convex slopes between 10,000 and 11,000ft with no obvious sings to instability. Skied aggressive NE and E facing terrain in the alpine with no obvious sings to instability. Managed terrain with trigger points and additional wind-loading in mind.

2-3″ of new, very light snow, was evenly distributed in the terrain. On wind-exposed ridge lines this most recent snow hadn’t been blown around. The main wind-loading in the terrain came from the 1/6 storm and its westerly winds. NE slopes got the most loading. S slopes had both been blown up, and cross loaded. West slopes were windblown near rigeline, but had good coverage lower on slopes with wind-texture on the surface. NE slopes had some wind pillows, but cornices were surprisingly small. The last round of E to NE winds drifted an extra inch back the other way but it didn’t matter.

Below the 2-3″ of new snow, the 1/6 snow felt dense with ski pen around 10cm.

Photos:

Smaller then average cornices on this NE terrain at 13,000ft that has big fetches on both its south and west sides.

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/13/2019
Name: Alex Tiberio

Subject: Remote Trigger on Snodgrass
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 10,000

Avalanches:

Remote triggered a D1 persistent slab avalanche below the snodgrass/gothic saddle. Triggered from about 100ft away on the second lap of the day. Ran pretty deep in the snowpack

Weather: Bluebird day

Snowpack: No obvious signs of instability on skin track and on first lap
Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 01/12/2019
Name: Joey Carpenter

Subject:
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 9300-10400

Avalanches:

No fresh avalanches. One near Pittsburg on NW aspect crown at 9800ft. 3ish days old. D1.5 but ran into tree stands below. Also two photos of climax crowns and debris piles as we caught a little sun on the way out. Evan reported both of these during the storm early this week.

Weather: S-1 snowfall for a good bit of the day. Minimal accumulation. Calm winds. Overcast, a few spots of sun did peek through in the morning.

Snowpack: N aspect 10.4k HS 195cm. Quick pit showed both mid-dec SH layers that appear to be decaying. CT26SCQ1 55cm down on dec SH. Additional loading steps after the upper slab was removed didn’t produce results on deeper interfaces. Surface snow was set up and surfy. Only about 6 inches ski pen. Stuck to slopes in the low-mid 30s, no SSx of instability.
Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 01/12/2019
Name: Evan Ross

Subject:
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 9,000-11,300

Weather: Mostly cloudy and snowing S-1 for a good bit of the day. Couple inches of new snow over the last 24hr. Clam winds.

Snowpack: No collapses or obvious signs to instability. Traveling on slopes in the upper 30 degree range at all elevations traveled. Previous ski tracks in the area where on similar slopes in the upper 30 degree range and skiing through previously wind-loaded terrain. HS was generally in the 130cm range.

Dug once at about 10,000ft. NE, 30 degree slope. HS 125. ECTN just below the 1/6 storm snow on 2mm SH. ECTP H on the 4F facets near the ground. No ECT or CT results below the holiday slab in the middle of the snowpack where many recent avalanches have been failing. The old NFS grains at this interface were 1mm and progressing towards rounds with necking forming between the grains.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/12/2019
Name: Eric Murrow

Subject: Keebler Pass area obs
Aspect: North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: 9,500 – 11,250

Avalanches:

There were a few spots that looked to have avalanched early during that last storm but refilled to the point of uncertainty. These locations are very steep rollovers on ENE aspects that were likely shallow from previous avalanching earlier in the season. A few wet roller balls on SE and S aspects near treeline but entrained no mass.

Weather: Mostly overcast skies with occasional peekaboo by the sun. Mild air temps below freezing with very calm winds. Very light snow during the day with close to two inches new from past 2 days of light snow.

Snowpack: Travelled through a bunch of NE, E , SE and S terrain that has seen little to no traffic this winter. We stomped and jumped around on a bunch on rollovers and did not get a single collapse all day. HS on NE and E terrain ranged from around 120cm below treeline up to 150cm near treeline. SE and S slopes we crossed were around 70cm below treeline and 90cm near treeline (all locations lacked any wind loading ).
S and SE slopes below treeline consisted largely of 3 to 4 facet crusts combos with little concern with current structure (add wind drifting and you might find otherwise). Below the 2 inches of new snow was a 2cm breaker crust.
We dug a test profile on a NE slope below treeline at 10,000′ and found a snowpack structure that did not inspire confidence but did not produce concerning test results. We found weak snow at the base of the last storm, the mid-December weak layer, and basal junk. See photo below. We skied steep slope nearby with a clean run out and only produced small shallow sluffs. Snowpack was very supportive and surfy with skis on with ski pen around 6 to 8 inches.
A second profile was dug at 11,250′ on an east aspect and we found a similar structure. HS jumped up a bit to around 150cm. Same story here, slabs and weak layers, but no concerning test results, but not a confidence inspiring structure. See photo below.

Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/12/2019
Name: Irwin Guides Rec. Level 1 Avalanche Course

Subject: Observations from the base of Avery Peak
Aspect: West
Elevation: 9,600-10,000′

Avalanches:

We did not observe avalanches today, but saw several size 1-2 pockets on steep convex slopes on east through northeast aspects that probably ran early in the week. Additionally, one larger avalanche on the north side of Mt. Gothic looked to be 4-5 days old (Size 2-3). Our groups experienced several large collapses while traveling in the valley bottoms as well as on west facing slopes. No shooting cracks were observed. Our group skied short slopes up to 25 degrees.

Weather: Overcast, light snow, little to no wind. Temps in the 20’s. Skies cleared toward the end of the afternoon.

Snowpack: Hs ranged from 80-130cm. Ski pen 20 cm, Boot pen 50 cm. Snowpack structure was overall weak. Several column tests on low angle slopes displayed sudden collapse fracture characteristics with moderate loading steps 40-60 cm down. At least one buried surface hoar layer (~ 20 cm down) displayed sudden planer fractures during shovel tilt tests.
Photos: