Mount Baldy

CB Avalanche Center March 29, 20172016-17 Observations

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 03/29/2017
Name: Ian Havlick

Subject: Mount Baldy
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West
Elevation: 9700-12600

Avalanches: Triggered several wet loose slides on steep (35º+) southerly facing slopes between 1430-1500 in the gut of Mount Baldy southerly bowl. These slides carried a decent punch and could tumble the unsuspecting skier or rider, and cause injury in confined terrain like couloirs. new snow 3-4″ deep running quickly on old suncrust.
Weather: Mostly clear skies, strong radiation, light to moderate NW winds early to mid afternoon. Temperatures remained fairly cold, but winds made ambient temps feel much colder.
Snowpack: 3-4″ new snow across terrain, but with strong radiation and mild temperatures, yesterday’s snow 8-10″ was settling fast, to 3-4″ by mid afternoon on southerly half of compass. Moderate NW winds were transporting yesterdays snow efficiently with significant new cornice formation and windslabs directly adjacent to ridgelines up to 18″ deep. New snow was not cracking or collapsing and appeared to be bonding well with underlying snow surfaces even with strong ski cuts and aggressive turns.

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Scarp Ridge

CB Avalanche Center March 29, 20172016-17 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 03/29/2017
Name: Kirk

Subject: Scarp Ridge
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 12012

Avalanches: wet slide activity started around noon . Small skier triggers wet slide was avoidable but could have been a knee wrecker .
Weather: Realatively Calm with occasional gusts from SE about 5mph
Snowpack: 6 new from Monday / Tuesday . Setting up fast

In the Greenhouse

CB Avalanche Center March 29, 20172016-17 Observations

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 03/28/2017
Name: Ben Pritchett

Subject: In the Greenhouse
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: 11,500′

Avalanches: Extensive wet loose cycle nead and above treeline producing numerous D1/1.5 slides. Examples include: Gothic Mountain SW face. Baldy SE face. Schuylkill Ridge SE and East. Whetstone E aspect (adjacent to M-chutes). Purple Palace NE.
Weather: Intense greenhouse / radiation. Temps were only in the mid 20’s, but the radiation influences were dramatic.
North winds showed up as expected in late afternoon.
Snowpack: North & Northeast – dry snow surfaces in late pm. New snow failed on small facets in tilt tests, down 15-20cm.
Southeast – moist surfaces in PM, snowpack tests popped down 20-25cm on rounding facets below buried Melt Freeze crusts.
South/Southwest- wet surfaces, generating free-water that wicked/spread above the old Melt freeze crusts on steeper slopes. Extensive rills developed between 2-4pm below 10,500′. New snow was glued to the top of the crusts.
Late PM winds began to transport new snow lightly, forming soft shallow drifts just below ridgelines.

Loose Wet avalanches adjacent to Wetstone’s M-Chutes. East Aspect.

Loose Wet avalanches off Gothic’s SW Face.

Loose Wet avalanches off Schuylkill Ridge and Schuylkill’s NW satellite summit. East aspects.

Lower Purple Palace, Loose Wet avalanches running just North of East.

Rills developed from wet snow surfaces between 2-4pm.

Mountain Weather 3/29/2017

CB Avalanche Center March 29, 2017Weather

Date: 03/29/2017

The closed low pressure system that brought yesterday’s spring squalls has moved eastward, putting us under a mild North flow today. We can expect another greenhouse cooker of a day under high thin clouds. Tonight we’ll see a good freeze, before the temps climb back into the forties tomorrow on the leading edge of another storm on tap for Friday.

Today

High Temperature: 35
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: N
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0″

Tonight

Low Temperature: 20
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: NW
Sky Cover: Mostly Clear
Snow: 0″

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 40
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: SW
Sky Cover: Increasing clouds
Snow: 0″

Ruby Range

CB Avalanche Center March 28, 20172016-17 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 03/28/2017
Name: Ian Havlick

Subject: Ruby Range
Aspect: East, South East, South
Elevation: 10,000-12,000

Avalanches: Widespread cycle of loose snow avalanches (
Weather: Moderate snow tapered to broken skies by mid morning. 9″ (.55 swe) 6% density at nearby Irwin study plot. Calm winds and balmy low to mid 30ºF temps, but intense solar when sun poked through.
Snowpack: New snow warmed and moisted quickly after snowfall stopped around 8am. Interesting structure in new snow that has fallen on old, dusty, spring snow surface. Observed a couple melt freeze crusts with .5-1mm facets below on mid elevation, S-SE facing apron of Ruby Peak.. With more snow load, could hold potential for another round of persistent slab avalanches. Should be monitored. No blowing snow observed by 1200pm.

Due north slopes and westerly slopes remained dry, but any slope with even a hint of east and south had moistened by 10am.

Ruby Apron profile

ENE facing storm snow activity on E-Ridge of Mount Owen (Jenga ridgeline)

East facing Ruby Ridge, widespread storm slab and dry loose avalanche activity transitioned to wet loose slides later in the day.

Welcome Ben Pritchett as the new ED and Lead Forecaster for CBAC!

CBAC March 28, 2017Announcements, News

We are excited to announce our new executive director and lead forecaster: Ben Pritchett. Ben brings a broad skill-set and diverse experience in the avalanche industry to the CBAC. In the past 12 years, Ben has served as the program coordinator for AIARE and avalanche education coordinator for the CAIC, gaining valuable experience working with backcountry users, educators, and forecasters around the country. Ben is a former forecaster for the CBAC and leads the forecasting program for the Grand Traverse. He also owns and runs a backcountry guiding business here in Crested Butte. Ben’s industry connections and local understanding of our terrain, weather, and snowpack will contribute to the quality of our forecast products. Ben will be replacing Zach Guy who is stepping down from the role and will be starting as the director of the Flathead Avalanche Center in Montana this spring.

Ben Pritchett at the 2017 Grand Traverse.

Welcome Ben Pritchett as the new ED and Lead forecaster for CBAC!

CB Avalanche Center March 28, 2017Avi Blog, Avi-Off-Season

It comes with a heavy heart to announce I’m moving on from the Crested Butte Avalanche Center to take on a new role as the director of the Flathead Avalanche Center. I’m looking forward to an opportunity for personal and professional growth in Montana. I’m grateful for the strong sense of community here that has made this place my home, both in town and in the backcountry. Our mountain town is unique in how our backcountry users respect and look out for each other, and this energy is what has helped our little avalanche center thrive and grow to what it is. Your observations, support, and donations help to make the CBAC one of the best forecast centers in the country. Thank you for that, Gunnison Valley, and I hope that is something that won’t change here as the backcountry evolves and becomes more crowded.

I’m excited to announce our new executive director and lead forecaster: Ben Pritchett. Ben brings a broad skill-set and diverse experience in the avalanche industry to the CBAC. In the past 12 years, Ben has served as the program coordinator for AIARE and avalanche education coordinator for the CAIC, gaining valuable experience working with backcountry users, educators, and forecasters around the country. Ben is a former forecaster for the CBAC and leads the forecasting program for the Grand Traverse. He also owns and runs a backcountry guiding business here in Crested Butte. Ben’s industry connections and local understanding of our terrain, weather, and snowpack will contribute to the quality of our forecast products.

Ben at the 2017 Grand Traverse

Over the past 5 years, I have poured my heart into making this center the best it could be. One of the hardest parts about leaving the CBAC was my sense of investment here and the fear of leaving the center high and dry on my way out. The folks at the Flathead Avalanche Center were patiently willing to negotiate for a delayed start date which helped us conduct a thorough interview and hand-off process, and I’m glad we landed Ben. Evan and Ian are two of the most dedicated and passionate forecasters I’ve had the pleasure of working with, and they are both planning on returning next year. We brought on a new development director this past fall, Karen Williams, who has been working with us to improve our fundraising and outreach. And with Ben joining the team, I know now that the CBAC is in good hands moving towards a promising future with the goal of educating our community and saving lives from avalanche hazards.

Sincerely,

Zach Guy

Mountain Weather 3/28/2017

CB Avalanche Center March 28, 2017Weather

Date: 03/28/2017

Last night we picked up 3-4″ of new snow around the area, with totals a little higher to the west. Today, the snow will taper off by midday. Overnight winds were light out of the southwest but look for the North winds to pick up a little bit this afternoon and into tonight as this storm passes. Looks like another one on tap for later this week.

Today

High Temperature: 27
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: NW
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Snow: 0-2″ AM

Tonight

Low Temperature: 18
Wind Speed: 10-20
Wind Direction: N
Sky Cover: Mostly Cloudy
Snow: 0-1″

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 30
Wind Speed: 7-17
Wind Direction: N
Sky Cover: Decreasing clouds
Snow: 0″

Triggered Cornice Break – Owen

CB Avalanche Center March 28, 20172016-17 Observations

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 03/27/2017
Name: Anonymous

Subject: Triggered Cornice Break – Owen
Aspect: South East
Elevation: ~12500′

Avalanches: Accidentally triggered a large cornice break near Owen/Ruby saddle. Noticed snow next to rocks on the ridge was icy, took two steps away from rocks, punched through snow triggering a large cornice fall. About 40 yards wide and the size of a couple buses. Didn’t appear to trigger slab avalanche, but a large amount of debris ran length slope with loose recent snow. Occurred around 11:15am.
Weather: Warm partly cloudy. Little to no wind
Snowpack:

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Mountain Weather 3/27/2017

CB Avalanche Center March 27, 2017Weather

Date: 03/27/2017

Temperatures dipped into the low 20s last night, under clear skies and generally light to moderate west winds at ridge top. Clear skies this morning will allow temperatures to rebound, before high clouds work into the area from the southwest this afternoon. Tomorrow looks stormy with snow (4-8″) and increasing northwest winds. Looking ahead, we get a breather on Wednesday and Thursday before another low pressure system and snow arrives Friday.