Date of Observation: 01/13/2022
Name: Jack Caprio

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Wolverine to climax

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Sunny and warm. Light winds

Snowpack: HS in Wolverine basin averaged around 220 cms. HS in wind affected areas near ridge line was much less ~1 meter. Snow surfaces above treeline in NNW terrain consisted of 5-10 cm of punchy wind slab. Unreactive to ski cuts but decreased ski quality. Bummer.

Wind protected areas below treeline on steep shady slopes provided great near surface facet surfing.

Date of Observation: 01/13/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Owen. NE to E to SE aspects up to 13,000 ft

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing new. A couple of previously undocumented slides from the last cycle; could only see debris piles. Details below.
Weather: Increasing thin clouds. Warm temps, light winds.
Snowpack: We assessed 2” to 4” hard wind drifted slabs near ridgetop that appeared to be bonding well; unreactive to ski cuts. No signs of instability in steep terrain. Surfaces are wind affected above treeline after yesterday’s winds.

Date of Observation: 01/13/2022

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: 9,000-12,000 E & NE aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Sunny & warm, hot actually, with no wind.
Snowpack: ATL, E aspect had some wind-effect, but soft snow could be found with a little sniffing around. BTL, NE aspect was creamy & dreamy. 25-30cm settlement cones around the aspens. Evidence of past avalanche activity is becoming harder to discern.

Date of Observation: 01/12/2022
Name: Jeff Banks

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: 4 days at Opa’s/Taylor Pass zone from Ashcroft trailhead.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 3 x D1.5’s from ~Friday/Saturday on SE-S ridgecrests ~40º
~D2.5/D3 on Ski Hayden same time frame

Weather: Today, Clear with strong N winds NTL & ATL.
Opa’s hut 11,800 was dusted with windblown snow this AM & impressive Plumes on the high peaks >12K.

Snowpack: Thin & highly variable, compared to closer to CB. NTL & ATL, Lot’s of willows & old road cuts showing
Just Localized collapses under foot- no further propagation while passing over willows, over 4 days of touring.

NTL/ATL: Highly Variable to local wind patterns, many slopes blown to gravel or big wind drifted pillows.

N BTL @ 11,500: HS 140cm in forest w/o wind effect. Sugar at the ground w/ Fist resistance.

photos @12,200 on Little Italian pass & M&M chutes

Date of Observation: 01/12/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Yule Creek

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Documenting more activity from 12/31 cycle that we missed from the flight

Date of Observation: 01/12/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: East and West Beckwith and Anthracite Creek as viewed from the Blob.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Recording a handful of previously undocumented avalanches that likely ran around 12/30 to 12/31. Viewed from afar, and some crowns have been partially drifted in, so sizes are best estimates.

Date of Observation: 01/12/2022
Name: Evan Ross & Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: We started low at Slate River TH, but mainly traveled in the upper Yule Creek area between 12,800 and 10,800 on W to N to E aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: No new avalanche activity. A few more old avalanches that have not been documented. With closer inspection, we decided that the previously documented avalanche that spanned between Purple and the Blob was another D4 from the holiday cycle. Just another impressive avalanche from that cycle.

Weather: Thin clouds creating partly cloudy sky. Steady moderate winds in the alpine, primarily from the W-NW in the morning and more NE in the late afternoon.

Snowpack: In the alpine, the wind was transporting snow throughout the day. However those winds were creating more variably snow surfaces and wind effect, then they were actually creating new wind slabs. In those same areas, we were also managing old hard slabs that have been created over the last couple of days by recent winds. These slabs were hard, only a few inches thick, and stubborn, but ready to take you off your feet in terrain that you wanted to stay on your feet.

Between Purple and the Ant, there are few places that the snowpack wasn’t altered by the holiday avalanche cycle. We did travel in steep terrain on slopes that didn’t appear to have previously avalanches, but most of the terrain traveled had previously avalanched or had old avalanche debris, all of which has been covered back up by new snow in January. West and Northwest aspects held more trigger-points or areas that the snowpack would go from shallow to deep abruptly. Surprisingly we made some of our best turns on a steep NW aspect starting below about 12,600ft and just below all the windblown snow surfaces near the ridgeline.

All in all for the deep persistent slab avalanche problem we chose to reduce our risk by managing trigger points vs slope angles.

Date of Observation: 01/12/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains & Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Climbed to the top of Coon Basin from town. Descended into Red Lady Basin via upper Red Coon Glades. Caught the Red Lady lap track and climbed the standard route to Gunsight Pass. Descended Redwell Basin to OBJ. Skated back to town on the nordic trails (nordic pass displayed, of course). 9,000-12,200; mostly N, NE, S & SE aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lots of old crowns, but nothing new. A few small point releases in rocky terrain on solar aspects.

Weather: Beautiful Day! Very slight and intermittent NW breeze. Sunny and quite pleasant.

Snowpack: S & SE aspects held a firm, supportable crust with spring-like corn skiing. Watching a few folks dropping in, it looked like the snow in RLB was still soft. Snow on shaded N aspects was dense, smooth & soft. Very little wind-effect in Redwell except at the very top. Nordic trails were exquisitely groomed!

Date of Observation: 01/11/2022
Name: Harrison Bosler, Math Alagna and Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Drove to Crested Butte Community School, walked to hillside west of school.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Blue skies, strong solar, cold temps remained in the valley floor
Snowpack: HS was 90 to 110 cm on NE aspects in town. Very supportive snowpack with 15 cm boot pen. The 12/6 interface is quite thin making up the bottom few centimeters of the snowpack and is sintering and gaining strength. The snow is strong immediately above and below the 12/23 Melt-freeze crust and does not appear to be an issue here. The 1/6 Graupel layer produced easy CT results and Non-Propagating ECT results as there is little slab on top of it in this shallower snowpack, will keep an eye on this one as slabs grow above. 4 mm surface hoar has formed on the surface and will likely continue to grow especially at these valley bottom locations.

Date of Observation: 01/11/2022
Name: Josh Jones

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Axtell Half Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: 8 Degrees
4.0 MPH NNW wind
0/8 Skycover
Snowpack: Deep and consistent snow observed on northwest to northeast aspects on Mt. Axtell’s Half Bowl. At about 10500′ and below we observed surface hoar, with large grains in spots. Great skiing conditions.