Avalanches: Wet Slab off Cinnamon ran from ice cliffs to valley bottom. 8-15 inch crown ran approximately 1500 feet and left debris at “valley of Death” 20 feet high. Appeared to be 1-2 days old.

Snowpack: Prolonged High Pressure. Facets on the North…. Melt Freeze on the Solar aspects

Uploads:

GUIDE(S): Scott
DATE: 01/12/2015
ACTIVITY: Ski touring
LOCATION: Anthracite Mesa/ Coneys
ELEVATION: 9,500 to 11,000
ASPECT: NE-E

WEATHER: Temps in the 20’s. Cloud ceiling of 10,500 at the trailhead, gradually rising throughout the day. Sun visible around noon, and remaining until 3. Winds calm to light throughout the afternoon.

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: 3cm buried surface hoar layer found at all aspects and elevations where I dug including ridge top. ECT near ridgetop provided no result on the December 13th layer 80cm below the surface. HST was between 10-15cm depending on elevation, no evidence of wind transport.

GUIDE(S): Donny
DATE: 15-01-12
ACTIVITY: Ski touring
LOCATION: Snodgrass
ELEVATION: 9,600’ to 11,150′
ASPECT: SE-S-SW-W-NW

WEATHER: Mostly cloudy, no precip, calm and warm.  It was “Africa hot” in Wash Gulch as we toured out – a product of a greenhouse effect, I would guess.

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: 4” of new snow from yesterday (maximum).  We skied the west aspect of Snodgrass down to Wash Gulch.  We had no signs of instabilities.  The ski pen was 20 to 40 cm.  The 12/13 interface could not be felt in the shaded areas.

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 01/11/2015

Weather: Snowfall exceeded the forecast, picking up 15cm (6″) by the end of the day, yahoo! West winds drifted the new snow as it fell.

Snowpack: 2 significant collapses on West aspects, both failing on the Dec 13 faceted interface. One slightly South of west, a second slightly North of west. On the second one, there was no old sun crust under the new snow and the slab was 4F to F+ hard, but even with the slab as not stiff as it was, it was still able to propagate ~70′ across a small 36 degree roll (see photo). Not that the Jan 11th snow changed the load on the Dec 13th layer to a great extent yet, but it’s a good reminder that as the snow loads grow, so will the distribution of the persistent slab problem, to include the weaker/shallower areas on the sunny side of the compass.

Name: Zach Guy
Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/11/2015
Aspect: South, North West
Elevation: 11,000 to 13,000 ft.

Avalanches: Touchy windslabs in crossloaded gullies, 4-8″ thick, a few up to 10″ thick. We skier triggered over a dozen soft slabs, running on meltfreeze crusts on southerly aspects and windhardened surfaces on northerly aspects. They weren’t running far or propagating wide distances, but they were increasing in size through the day. SS-ASc-R1-D1-I

Weather: Moderate snowfall, light to moderate westerly winds, some variable directions as we moved through terrain. Overcast.

Snowpack: About 6″ of new snow on the firm interfaces left over from our recent dryspell, up to 10 or 12″ in drifted gullies. New snow is bonding poorly to the Jan 10th interface.

Recent Observations: New Interface is the Jan 11th Interface and the new snow is falling on mostly crusts, Near Surface facets and Surface Hoar. This will be a one to watch especially as slabs build. Jan 3rd interface visible in profile but not reactive to column tests.

East: Evidence of more SW winds with no slab forming yet. 3‐6” of new unconsolidated snow on mostly supportive crust. Descent bonding with minimal sluffing.

West: Sluffing moving medium speeds w/ Oswald going full track not a lot of mass. See attached profile from JB Jungle

File Upload: Snow Profile

Name: Donny
DATE: 15-01-11
LOCATION: Crested Butte Area
ELEVATION: 9000’ to 10,400′
ASPECT: Mostly N and NE

WEATHER: Snowing all day; short periods of S3; HST 15cm; calm to light winds; temps in the upper teens to lower 20s throughout the day.

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: No signs of instabilities or avalanches observed.  New snow is light and not adding significant weight to snowpack.  Looked at 12/13 interface in a couple spots and it seemed to be faceting away, although I still got rough hand sheers.