Crested Butte Area

CB Avalanche Center January 27, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Crested Butte Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 01/26/2015
NAME: Kitt Haven

SUBJECT:
ASPECT: North
ELEVATION: Above and below tl

AVALANCHES: Skied knob off wolverine ridge with no signs of instability. Exited vía right shute, was fine up top. Cut out on road to ski a steeper pitch in the trees and encountered skier triggered sluffing to the ground. Not enough to burry someone but plenty to knock you off your feet. Ran approx 30-40ft.

WEATHER: Blue and calm, Hot!

SNOWPACK: varied with aspect and Sun exposure. Even glopy by 11:30 in some places

Crested Butte Area

CB Avalanche Center January 27, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Crested Butte Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 01/26/2015
NAME: ADB
ASPECT: South

ELEVATION: BTL
AVALANCHES: None
WEATHER: Sunny. Very warm. Calm.

SNOWPACK: We did two snow surveys for State of Colorado Water Supply Forecasts. Sites were at the bottom of Red Lady Glades and near Slate River by the Lower Loop. Sites had common results.. Depth of snow ranged between 26 and 31 inches. Snow density ranged between 21 and 26%.

Development of surface hoar up to 2.5 cm.

Snodgrass Snow Study Plot 20150123

CB Avalanche Center January 26, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Crested Butte Area
DATE: 01/23/2015
NAME: nick schley

SUBJECT: Snodgrass Snow Study Plot
ASPECT: North East
ELEVATION:

UPLOADS:

: Snodgrass Plot 20150123

: Snodgrass Plot 20150123

Snodgrass

CBAC January 26, 20152014-15 Observations

Name: Evan, Will
DATE: 1/25/15
LOCATION: Snodgrass (Crested Butte Area)

ASPECT: NE
Elevation: 11,000-9,500 BTL

WEATHER: Calm wind, few clouds and cool temps on north side of Snodgrass.

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: All around weakness. Persistent Slab structure was mostly or completely faceted out. sloughing was the primary problem on terrain over 35 degrees. Sloughs were easily initiating and would continue gaining mass until they reached lower angled terrain. The largest ones where D 1.5’s. Lots of wind scouring or wind ripped terrain in the East River Valley from recent strong down valley winds.

Coneys

CBAC January 26, 20152014-15 Observations

NAME: Dave & Krista
DATE: 1/25/15
LOCATION: Crested Butte Area

ELEVATION: 9900
ASPECT: NE
WEATHER: WINDS FROM THE NORTH 10+ in the valleys and lower ridges. Clear, warm

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: Sadly the snowpack continues to break down. Snow still supporting the weight of a skier but skiing facets seems to be the current trend. No signs of instability today but could still see old slides and old tracks.

Washington Gulch TH

CBAC January 25, 20152014-15 Observations

NAME: Avalanche Level 1 Course
DATE: 1/14/15
LOCATION: Washington Gulch

ASPECT: NE
ElLEVATION: 9,600ft. BTL.

WEATHER: Light down valley winds with a couple stronger gusts in the afternoon. Overcast sky.

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: Short tour near the trailhead and near Long Lake. HS 60-80cm and generally weak on NE aspects. Persistent Slab structure was mostly faceted out with only a little midpack slab left in places. Maybe 1 out of 10 pits produced a result in CT tests. Could still find buried SH down 10cm on most NE slopes. Boot pen to the ground.

Brush Creek Area

CB Avalanche Center January 25, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Brush Creek Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 01/24/2015
NAME: ADB

ASPECT: South East, North West
ELEVATION: BTL/NTL

AVALANCHES: None observed.

WEATHER: 100% cloud cover but sun was able to poke through. Calm. Breezy near Friends Hut.

SNOWPACK: SE Aspects: Did three different ski tests within 3 miles with same results: collapsing between 10 cm and 60cm. Found sun crusts throughout tour and ski pole could only 2.5 cm if lucky. Starting zones up to Pearl Pass Road have considerable bare ground showing. Just below the climb to the Friends Hut where skin track enters a clearing, observed cornices on SE ridgeline. All trail signs are visible.

NW aspects: 10 to 20cm of F snow on a crust.

Mt. Emmons

CB Avalanche Center January 25, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Crested Butte Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 01/24/2015
NAME: Zach Guy

SUBJECT: Mt. Emmons
ASPECT: North, East, South
ELEVATION: 9,000 -12,000 ft.

AVALANCHES: No recent slides.

WEATHER: Broken skies. Moderate to strong winds at ridge line, elsewhere winds were light. Plumes on ridge line but didn’t seem to be actively loading.

SNOWPACK: On south: the last few inches of new snow is faceting above the most recent crust. No signs of instability
On north: Some denser, wind affected snow above treeline. Around 10,500 feet and lower, the snowpack starts to feel mostly faceted out. Still supportive on skis, but felt weak throughout to pole probes and not much slab hanging on. No signs of instability
On east: Dug a snow pit near treeline. No results in stability tests. Top half of the slab is faceting out, but still some 1F and 4F slab lingering. The Dec 13th facets and below are 4F+ in hardness, large in size (2-3 mm), but rounding. No signs of instability.

UPLOADS:

20150124_Emmons

Brush Creek Area

CB Avalanche Center January 25, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Brush Creek Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 01/24/2015

ASPECT: South, South West, West, North West
ELEVATION: 9000-12300

AVALANCHES: One small skier triggered slide on an isolated terrain feature around 11000 ft facing west southwest. Only a few inches deep ran approximately 30 ft. down slope 30 ft. wide. Appeared to be small firm windslab running on facet/ crust combo. Slow moving. Made a cool noise. Other, older, larger slide activity on similar aspects in these basins.

WEATHER: Overcast skies. Temperatures in the low 20’s. Calm winds in valley bottoms, moderate winds with stronger gusts above tree line out of the northwest, strong enough to move snow over Pearl Pk. Otherwise not a lot of blowing snow.

SNOWPACK: Shallow snow pack up high around upper brush creek/star pass area with lots of crusts from wind and sun exposure. No collapsing observed, but one pitch yielded shooting cracks across a 20 something degree wind stiffened southwest slope.

Purple Mountain

CB Avalanche Center January 23, 20152014-15 Observations

LOCATION: Paradise Divide Area
DATE OF OBSERVATION: 01/22/2015
NAME: Evan Ross

ASPECT: North East, East
ELEVATION: Above Tree Line

WEATHER: Few clouds, silly cold temps, Strong NNW winds at ridge lines above 12,500ft. Not a lot of snow available for transport on the Western sides of ridges lines but there was still blowing snow on summit ridge lines.

SNOWPACK: Didn’t find any new windslabs of concerning size on east and northeast aspects below ridgelines even with drifting snow today. Upper snowpack mainly consisted of 20cm low density snow sitting on 1f+ to P hard slabs from previous wind events. Didn’t find any buried surface hoar. Small loose snow avalanches was the main concern. Still didn’t have the confidence to push persistent slab margins in steep rocking terrain, or what looked to be hard slabs sitting on facets in ATL wind affected areas.

AVALANCHES: Numerous loose snow avalanches from the last few days that where d1.5’s at best. Several shallow slabs on on east facing terrain generally propagating 50ft wide. One in the ragged wilderness area looked to be a couple hundred feet wide.

UPLOADS: