Crested Butte Area

CB Avalanche Center2014-15 Observations

Name: Than
Title: Obs
Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/23/2014
Aspect: East, South
Elevation: BTL, ATL

Avalanches: Noticed an avalanche on the far skiers left side of Red Lady Bowl.

Weather: Breezy but winds calming by 9 a.m. from the overnight blast

Snowpack: Plenty of collapsing while touring up Snodgrass. Thick wind layer on top. Ski pen anywhere from 10 to 20 inches when breaking trail.

Natural avalanches in the Ruby Range

CB Avalanche Center2014-15 Observations

Name: Zach Guy
Title: Natural avalanches in the Ruby Range
Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 12/23/2014
Aspect: North, East, South
Elevation: Above Treeline

Avalanches: Most of the range was obscured by clouds, but caught a few looks at some recent soft slab avalanches on north, east, and south aspects, mostly D2 or D2.5 in size.

  • 3 or 4 large debris piles in Peeler Basin off of north aspects, looked D2 to D2.5, but crowns had already been filled in.. Likely ran mid-storm.
  • Two slides on east aspects of Ruby and Robinson Basin, looked to have run in the past 12-24 hours. The slide on Ruby looked 3 to 5 feet deep, 300-400 feet wide. SS-N-R2-D2.5-U.
  • One slide on a south aspect of Robinson Basin, several feet deep, a couple hundred feet wide, fairly recent. SS-N-R3-D2-U
  • Large D2.5ish looking debris pile below E/NE face of Mt. Owen. Peak and crownline were obscured

Weather: Cold. Moderate gusts from the north with short periods of moderate transport. Broken skies.

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Point Releases off of Coal Creek

CB Avalanche Center2014-15 Observations

Name: Phil Bohannon
Title: Point Releases off of Coal Creek
Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 12/22/2014
Aspect: North
Elevation: 9000′

Avalanches: Two natural point releases. Nothing major but interesting.

Weather: Snowing moderately. Winds gusty out of NW.

Snowpack: No pit test. Just Avalanche observation.

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Mountain Weather December 23, 2014

CB Avalanche CenterWeather

Date: 12/23/2014

The jet stream that has been driving heavy snowfall and intense winds will weaken through the day and slowly shift east. Snowfall is forecasted to wind down to isolated flurries. A ridge builds to our west, issuing frigid and dry air this evening, perhaps our coldest temps this winter. The lull in action won’t last long, as a Pacific trough digs into the Great Basin Wednesday night, bringing significant snowfall to the Elk Mountains on Christmas.

Today

High Temperature: 10
Wind Speed: 10-20, Gusting to 30
Wind Direction: N
Sky Cover: Overcast
Snow: 0-2″

Tonight

Low Temperature: -5
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: NW
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0

Tomorrow

High Temperature: 15
Wind Speed: 5-15
Wind Direction: W
Sky Cover: Partly Cloudy
Snow: 0

 

Irwin Tenure

CBAC2014-15 Observations

For P.M. Forms
Day H2D/W HN24/W HST/W HS
Last Night 19 / 2.6 27 / 3.4 30 / 3.75 54
Today 5  / .4 5 / .4 34 / 4.15 57

West aspect NTL:  Long Shot: SS-AE-R3-D1.5- O/G: 60cm at deepest, 40’ wide, ran 400’. 3 different interfaces were seen in crown. See photos. Another slide in Way Long but could not see if it was slab or loose snow, put debris 400’ down.

West aspect NTL: SS- AEr-R3-D2- O. Triggered remotely from approximately 6 feet from a 4lb hand charge in Lean. Crown was 90cm deep (4F to 1F) on Dec 13th crust. 70’ wide, ran 500 feet to Round 2. Debris was 4-6 feet deep.

Gothic snow observation

CBAC2014-15 Observations

Strong, steady wind all night but with only light snow and staying quite mild. Past 24 hours has 5″ new snow and water 0.37″. Wind letting up slightly towards sunrise and snow picking up a bit.  No visibility, currently 22ºF.  Good snow transport from the wind.

-Billy Barr

Large Natural Above Nordic Center

CB Avalanche Center2014-15 Observations

Name: DH
Title: Large natural above Nordic Center
Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/22/2014
Aspect: North, North East
Elevation: 9,000 ft

Avalanches: The hill above the Nordic Center just went big. Wall to wall as big as it could have gone and plenty big to bury a person. Pretty scary.

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