Above Treeline is the highest of the three elevation bands used in the CBAC’s forecasts. It includes alpine areas where the most snow falls and the winds are the strongest. It is not an exact elevation, but a characteristic of the terrain, beginning as the treeline transitions into open slopes extending to ridges and the tops of the highest peaks.
Baldy
Name: Brandon Clifford
Title: Baldy
Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 11/19/2014
Aspect: South
Elevation: 12,805′
Avalanches: None.
Weather: Sunny with 0-5 (mph) wind.
Snowpack: Thin on top with better snow on leeward slopes.
- Baldy turns
- Baldy turns in bowl
- Baldy wind lip
Great skiing on Baldy Peak in November.
November 19th – Sunny
24 Hour Weather Outlook
Weather Discussion: Nunc ac ipsum vel nulla dignissim auctor. Nulla gravida fermentum tempus. Phasellus ut mollis lorem, a auctor mi. In rutrum turpis sit amet feugiat tincidunt. Fusce sollicitudin mi tellus, non tincidunt nulla sodales in. Nam eu suscipit enim. Nullam eu massa ultrices, lobortis orci vel, scelerisque metus.
Temperature:10˚
Wind Speed (mph):10 – 20 mph
Wind Direction:S
Sky Cover:Clear
Snow (in):0″
48 Hour Weather Outlook
Weather Outlook: Nunc ac ipsum vel nulla dignissim auctor. Nulla gravida fermentum tempus. Phasellus ut mollis lorem, a auctor mi. In rutrum turpis sit amet feugiat tincidunt. Fusce sollicitudin mi tellus, non tincidunt nulla sodales in. Nam eu suscipit enim. Nullam eu massa ultrices, lobortis orci vel, scelerisque metus.
Tomorrows Temperatures:10-15
Tomorrows Wind Speeds (mph):10-20 mph
Tomorrows Wind Directions:SW
Tomorrows Sky Cover:Mostly Clear,Few Clouds
Tomorrows Snow (in):0″
Todays Forecast
Weather Discussion: Nunc ac ipsum vel nulla dignissim auctor. Nulla gravida fermentum tempus. Phasellus ut mollis lorem, a auctor mi. In rutrum turpis sit amet feugiat tincidunt. Fusce sollicitudin mi tellus, non tincidunt nulla sodales in. Nam eu suscipit enim. Nullam eu massa ultrices, lobortis orci vel, scelerisque metus.
Temperature:10˚
Wind Speed (mph):10-20 mph
Wind Direction:N
Sky Cover:Clear
Snow (in):0″
Mount Owen Jenga Chute Avalanche
The CBAC got up to Mount Owen today to investigate yesterday’s slide that caught and carried two skiers as they boot packed up Jenga Chute. The slide broke above the pair near the top of the couloir as they were about halfway up the chute. The area received 10-12″ of snow on the night of November 2nd which fell on a variety of surfaces ranging from bare ground to up to 2ft residual of snow from the few storms that rolled through the Elk Mountains in October.
The avalanche should be classified SS-AF-R2-D1.5-O/G. The slope angle ranged from 37-41º on an ENE facing slope (61º). It ran ~400 vertical feet from ~12,600ft to 12,200ft. Debris width spread about 60ft wide, ranging in depth from 40-150cm deep.
The snow structure of the slab in the couloir consisted of two distinct graupel layers that fell in our most recent storm, capped by a thin windslab generally 3-6″ deep created by light winds during and after the storm; however, the new snow has drifted into 1-2ft deep isolated pockets. The slab failed and ran on a 4cm “pencil+” hard melt freeze crust from the October 12th storm, although it did scour down to rock within parts of slide path. Up to 50cm of 1-2mm faceted grains remained below the bed surface, which will continue to mature/grow in size as the season progresses, likely causing more concerning instabilities in the months to come, in this location and surrounding slopes.
The CBAC would like to genuinely and humbly thank those involved for sharing their experience for the greater awareness of our Crested Butte backcountry community as we plunge into another winter.
Get ready for winter!!
The gold leaves and some snow in next week’s forecast are both good reminders that winter is just around the corner! Before the flakes start piling up, fall is a great time to freshen up on your avalanche education, or set aside some money and time to take an avalanche course. I’ve put together a list of a few educational opportunities below.
Avalanche Training/Lectures
WMRT Avalanche Seminar. 7 pm, November 20th, 2014. Western State Colorado University
CBAC Avalanche Awareness Night. December 6th, 2014. CB Center for the Arts
A night of avalanche talks, beer drinking, silent auction, raffle, and winter stoke, all to support your local avalanche center
CBAC Beacon Brushup. December 7th, 2014. CB Town Park.
Learn how to conduct an avalanche search or tune-up your beacon skills.
AIARE Avalanche Courses
Level 1, Level 2, and refresher courses offered locally through Crested Butte Mountain Guides or check AIARE’s schedule for courses around the country.
Colorado Snow and Avalanche Workshop. October 17th, 2014. Breckenridge, CO
A one-day seminar aimed at avalanche professionals, but with plenty of material for motivated recreationists.
Weather Forecasting Courses
Sick of your local weather experts blowing the forecast?
Mountain Weather Workshop. October 31st – November 2nd, 2014. Silverton, CO
Winter Weather Forecasting. October 10th-12th, 2014. Jackson, WY
Recommended Readings
I put together a list of some of the classic avalanche literature out there. I’ve ordered this list from easiest to digest to most technical reading. Grab a book for the next rainy or snowy day!
Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard – 5th Edition. By Doug Fesler and Jill Fredston.
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A great book for starters or if you need a refresher |
Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain – 2nd Edition. By Bruce Tremper
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My favorite. Bruce does a great job of describing challenging concepts using analogies and examples |
The Avalanche Handbook – 3rd Edition. By David McClung and Pete Schaerer
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If you want to dive into the science behind basic concepts, this is a good one. |
Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: Observation Guidelines – 2nd Edition.
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Learn how to make observations at a professional standard |
International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings. Free online here.
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Science nerds rejoice! All of the proceedings from this bi-annual conference are now online. Heavy on science. |
Have a great fall!
Zach Guy
Forecaster, CBAC
Oh no! Dust on snow
Yesterday, we got a brief and silty taste of the Dirty Thirties when a major dust storm blew over Crested Butte. Scarp Ridge recorded wind speeds of 110 mph (the highest of the season), and these winds brought with them a sizeable chunk of Moab.
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Dust-ageddon in Crested Butte on March 30, 2014. Photo credit: Matt Hogan |
How will this dust on snow event affect snow stability and avalanches? Lets start with a key concept: albedo. Albedo is how reflective a surface is. White colors have a high albedo — they reflect a high amount of radiation energy rather than absorb it. That is why you reach for a light colored T-shirt if you’re going outside on a hot sunny day instead of a black T-shirt. Fresh snow has a very high albedo and it reflects most incoming solar energy. (So thats why my mom always made me double up on sunscreen when I went skiing!) On the other hand, the dark-colored dust more readily absorbs solar energy and heat, and also retains that heat longer.
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Pristine snow reflects radiation more effectively than dusty snow. Courtesy of Jeff Deems. |
Dusty snow can absorb two or three times the solar energy of a clean snowpack. Whenever dust is near the surface of the snow (even when its buried up to a foot deep), it amplifies the rate of surface warming, increasing the amount of snowmelt and weakening the snow around it. This leads to more frequent loose wet avalanches. Intense melt rates send freewater deeper into the snowpack, which can also compromise the strength of deeply buried weak layers, causing an increased likelihood of wet slab avalanches. Both of these problems, with or without dust, can be avoided by monitoring how well the snowpack refreezes at night and getting off of slopes before they thaw too much. Dust on the snow simply shortens that window of stable snow and may prevent good overnight refreezes in some situations.
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Snirt. Snow+Dirt. Photo taken March 31, 2014 near Crested Butte. |
The second avalanche concern is that dust can do weird things when its buried by a slab of snow, and it can behave like a persistent weak layer. Because they absorb and retain heat longer, dust layers can cause wet grains above or below them to remain unfrozen and unstable longer. Dust can also cause tremendous temperature gradients in the surrounding layers, which causes the bordering snow around it to decay and facet. This is not always the case, but it is worth checking on how reactive dust layers are after they get buried by spring storms. It will be the easiest layer you will ever identify in a snowpit!
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The crown of a large slab avalanche that was remotely triggered from hundreds of yards away last spring. It failed on a dust layer. |
Sadly, dust on snow has negative impacts on the timing of spring runoff and water resources in the West. The Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies in Silverton, CO tracks and studies the effects of dust-on-snow events, and is a great resource for more information on this topic. On the bright side of things, your favorite mountain bike trails will melt out sooner now, and business is booming if you own a car-wash business.
Zach Guy
CBAC Forecaster
A Canary in the Elk Mountains?
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Deep slab on Mt. Owen, first spotted 3/12/14
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With just a tease of spring under our belt and much more warm and sunny weather inevitably to come, this begs the question: Are we seeing the tip of the iceberg right now? Did the canary just faceplant into the bottom of the cage? Warming and meltwater will continue progressing into the snowpack, first on southerly slopes, and eventually around the compass to north. We know weak layers are at the bottom of the snowpack lurking and they are proving to be reactive. Cornice falls will become more frequent as these overhanging blocks of snow continue to thaw and sag from their own massive amounts of weight. We are not out of the woods yet when it comes to deep slab problems. These last two slides should serve as a healthy reminder to use an extra dose of caution this spring in your backcountry travels. Be diligent in your terrain selection and in the attention you give to weather, snowpack, and avalanche patterns in the upcoming months.
Zach Guy
CBAC Forecaster
Recapping a historic avalanche cycle
CBAC Forecaster
The first two weeks of February were exciting (but sleepless) times to be an avalanche forecaster. An unusually large storm was accompanied by unusual avalanches. Around the central and northern mountains of Colorado, avalanches destroyed or buried buildings, closed roads, and extended trim lines of previous historic paths. Sadly, four fatalities occurred as well.
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Anthracite Range. Observed February 2nd. |
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Gothic Mountain runout. The pipe is to the top of the outhouse structure that was buried 10-20 feet deep. Observed February 8th. |
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This slide crossed Peanut Lake Road around 8:30 a.m. February 10th. |
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An estimated 2/3 of Snodgrass Mountain slid to near the ground. Observed February 10th. |
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Unusual crowns on Double Top Mountain. Observed February 10th |
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Large slides above town from Gibson Ridge. Observed February 10th. |
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Crown lines running across the entire width of Cement Mountain. Observed February 10th. |
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Slides near Meridian Lake. Observed February 11th. |
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Peeler Basin. Estimated half mile wide. Observed Februay 11th. |
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Deep slab on Purple Mountain, estimated up to 20+ ft deep. Observed February 11th. |
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Deep slab on Afley. Observed February 11th. |
Small doses of snow fell and wind speeds increased on February 12th through the 15th. Temperatures started to climb, eventually hitting the high 40’s in Crested Butte. We even saw short bouts of rain at all elevations. The natural cycle was far from over. Another natural came down to Cement Creek Road. A few more huge ones ripped off of the peaks.
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Near White Mountain; this path ran similar to the notorious skier triggered slide from 2008. Observed February 14th. |
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Several historic slides crossed Spring Creek Road. Observed February 14th. |
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Slides impacted structures in Taylor Canyon and near Almont. Observed February 15th. |
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Slab failing near the ground on Whetstone. Observed February 16th. |
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Near WSC Peak. Observed February 17th |