Name: Jafar Tabaian
Title: California Love
Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/30/2014
Aspect: East
Elevation: 10,500
Avalanches: Skied skiers right shot of California bowl on Snodgrass. Set of a soft slab avalanche on aggressive ski cut towards top flank of the slope. Approximately 30 cm (12 in) crown that slid on December dry-spell sun crust. East facing slope that was 35-40 degrees. Purposely ski cut the flank of the slope to test it before we skied so it was D1.5 and R1, but I think the entire face would have gone if we had ventured out on to the main zone, which would likely have resulted in a D3 and R4 avalanche. Did not step down into persistent layer, which seemed to be very facet (rotten) ridden. Based on what I’ve seen the past few of days on Snodgrass I would ski very conservatively across the zone. We retreated to the trees and it skied great without additional signs of instability.
Weather: Overcast. S1, very light snow towards sunset. No wind. Lots of dogs.
Snowpack:
Uploads:
Cali-Bowl-2
Cali-Bowl-1