Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/21/2018
Name: billy barr

Subject: Gothic 5:30am
Aspect:
Elevation:

Avalanches:
Weather: Snow starting around 9 p.m. going off and on overnight though not much the past few hours and only 2½” so far with 0.19″ water and snowpack at 27″. It was partly cloudy when i went out around 5:20 and cloudy and snowing again (very lightly) when i was done about 20 minutes later. Currently snowing lightly while mostly cloudy and generally calm though with occasional gusting to 8 from the west. Temp. dipped to 10 with the clearing but now at 15F. Will update if needed at the 7 a.m. sweep time.
Snowpack:

Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 01/20/2018
Name: Evan Ross

Subject: Old Bed Surfaces
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 9,000 to 11,000

Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack: The wide propagating avalanches from our last avalanche cycle sure are cool to lay eyes on. The crush and flush analogy didn’t appear to work on the avalanche paths I viewed on Schuylkill Ridge. HS is shallow below these old crowns. With a couple inches of NSF on top of the old bed surface and still 10 to 30cm’s of large grained depth hoar below. These slopes lost their mid-pack, butt didn’t loose their persistent weak layers.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/20/2018
Name: Ben Pritchett & Jeff Deems

Subject: Anthracites avalanches from a week ago
Aspect:
Elevation: 10,000 to 12,000′

Avalanches:

Several old avalanches from Jan 11-13 period:
Below 7 Bowl x 3, Northwest Bowl, Playground x 3, ridge that divides Floresta and Bracken, Ohio Peak SE face.

Weather: Approaching weather. Convective showers started around 11am, under a strong south flow. No significant accumulation or wind transport until around 3pm.
Snowpack: North through east aspects were settled and quiet, topped with large and durable surface hoar (up to 3cm). HS averaged 110.
On southerly aspects found thick slick melt-freeze crusts up to 11,500′, thin zipper sun crust observed from 11,500 – 12,000′.
No cracking, collapsing or fresh avalanches.

Photos:

crown profile above NW bowl slide

very broad crown, estimated ~1,200′ wide

North end of the crown in NW bowl

D2 on SE aspect off Ohio Peak

Broad avalanche in relatively low angled terrain

the largest of 3 D2’s in the Playground

looking across at the Northwest bowl avalanche

Large durable SH (3cm)

D1.5 on small slope below 7 bowl

Surface Hoar, in most open slopes on Northwest to East aspects up to 11,500′

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/19/2018
Name: Eleven Guides

Subject: Eleven Guides PM Report (Cat tenure)
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 10-11,500

Avalanches:

Two additional small WL D1’s ~1130 East Aspect above Robinson
Party Hats Left HS-AB-R1-D0.5-O FC-12/21 (20cm x 50m x 50m) Peeling the wind board
Hs 65-90cm, top 15 cm P hardness over 4F_F Party Hats Right HS-AB-R1-D1-O FC-12/21 (25cm x 30m x 50m) Peeling the wind Board, slick bed surface

Weather: Skies Few throughout the day with strong solar. Moderate SW winds, high temp of 40* held from 1100-1400. Strong SW gusts Flagged peaks for a couple hours @ 1330 but subsided to calm by 1600.
Snowpack: Snowpack continues faceting but growing MFCR on Southerlies and zippers throughout
most aspects & elevations. First day venturing into UUWW: Party Hats L&R HS 30-100 cm’s, capped with a 15cm
P+ supportive HardSlab (isolated to gulley features) sits over 4F-F snowpack, MFcr layers not present in this
terrain. Large collapse approaching Vodka, the rolling thunder continues.
SBM: HS 60. 4 distinct MFCr, ECTX

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/18/2018
Name: Eleven Guides

Subject: Eleven Guides PM Report (Cat tenure)
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 10-11,500

Avalanches:

No significant avalanches despite heavy shots (10£ ANFO) on old hard slabs. Small WL on easterly aspect above Robinson ~1300.

Weather: Cold morning warmed up to mild temperatures with highs near 39* @ 1300! Light westerly
winds, Overcast this morning, clearing to FEW in the afternoon.
Snowpack: Snow continues to erode from faceting process. Significant melt freeze crusts (3-6cm)
dominate anything that has southerly tilt. On southerly slopes, 3 significant crusts with facets 1-2mm
developing underneath. Near surface facets and surface hoar was primarily destroyed today by solar.
Couple significant collapses in Katie’s while boot packing.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/18/2018
Name: Kirk H

Subject: Frozen Dinner
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 11400

Avalanches:

No evidence of any recent activity .
However we did ski upon a buried Bull Elk . Someone has been lucky to have his frozen dinner close by for the season. Hard to tell if this guys fate was met by and Avalanche or a wound from Hunting Season.

Weather: Calm , Sunny
Snowpack: Not too many changes from past observation , less whumphing and more facets.

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/17/2018
Name: Evan Ross

Subject: Quiet On Snodgrass
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 9,400-10,400. BTL

Avalanches:
Weather: Not a cloud in the sky and no wind.
Snowpack: Quiet out there. Not a single collapse. Kept it under 35 degrees and didn’t see any obvious signs to instability. The upper snowpack has lost a lot of strength and there wasn’t much mid-pack left. The bottom of the snowpack is still junk. Really its all junky. Even some wind boards were faceting out. Seems like you could trigger a slab somewhere were you found better mid-pack structure, but we sure didn’t find it during our short couple of runs. Thoroughly tested the snowpack with a number of head penetrator tests.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/16/2018
Name: Alex Banas

Subject: Red Lady Glades
Aspect: South East, South
Elevation: 9,400-12,000

Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack: Shallow snowpack with max HS observed at 60cm. Two distinct melt/freeze crusts in the mid-pack with the lower one caping 10cm of large-grained facets on the ground. Widespread surface hoar growth in the valley bottom. Not observed a few hundred feet up from the Kebler pass corridor.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/16/2018
Name: Irwin Cat Operation

Subject: Continued collapsing at Irwin
Aspect:
Elevation:

Avalanches:
Weather: Sunny and warm, very little wind. Not a cloud in the sky. High of 31 with strong solar.
Snowpack: 5 collapses today while regrouping with packers.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/16/2018
Name: Evan Ross. Eric Murrow

Subject: Natural Avalanche On Mt Owen
Aspect: East, South East, South
Elevation: 11,000-12,800

Avalanches:
Weather: Mostly clear sky and calm winds.
Snowpack: Didn’t feel any collapses or see any shooting cracks, but the weak layers are there on some slopes. Some slopes up in the alpine had a very hard mid-pack from the pre-christmas wind event.

Crown profile at 12,700ft on the northeast face of Mt Owen. HS 160. With an F to 1F slab 85cm thick capping the 12/23 facets. At the interface, these facets were 1 to 2mm and 4F+ hard. Deeper into basal facets they became 3mm depth hoar and F+ hard. This natural avalanche appeared to fail at the 12/23 interface but quickly gouged to the ground. HS-N-R2-D2.5-O. PST 70/180 end while dragging the saw just below the interface. PST 100/160 end while dragging the saw at the interface. On the map the crown is more NE looking.

Quick pit at 11,800 on an ESE aspect. HS 85. 4F+ mid-pack over small 4F facets about 25cms thick at the ground. ECTX. CTH on the 1/6 interface, small NSF. Structure wasn’t too concerning.

Photos:

Roller balls on steep southerly terrain