Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/14/2018
Name: Alex Tiberio

Subject: More collapsing around gothic
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: 9,400-10,200

Avalanches:
Weather: Clear skies
Snowpack: While setting a track up climbers right of the Snodgrass/Gothic saddle through the aspen groves there were large collapses in all open areas, none of which were steeper than 30 degrees so nothing moved. Was going to dig a pit at one point in an opening in the trees, however the slope collapsed while I was digging so I moved on. No collapses in the denser larger aspens on slopes up to 35 degrees

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Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/13/2018
Name: Tim Pfafman

Subject: Delayed Fuse on Coney’s
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 10,800

Avalanches:

End of 2nd run north of Coney’s second bowl looked up and noticed that we had a delayed remote trigger on the steep north east face of the second bowl. This part of Coney’s did not have much to any snow a week ago and is steeper than what has been ridden in that area over the last few weeks. The Avy was in the new snow from the last 2 storms to the ground. 18″ to 24″ crown.

Weather: Sunny to overcast
Snowpack: No noticed flags.

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Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/13/2018
Name: Dave

Subject: Red Lady Glades
Aspect: South East, South
Elevation: 9,300-11,900

Avalanches:
Weather: Clear skies, lots of solar, calm but did not get on summit. Air= mid 20’s
Snowpack: HS ranged 50-60cm and got thin towards the bottom. We skied the glades to the left of the up track. The skiing was good but hit a few rocks. We skied the lower side of the steep pitch and saw no signs of instability. The snow was getting pretty heavy as we descended

Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 01/12/2018
Name: Eric Murrow

Subject: Pitts collapsing
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 9,250 – 10,500

Avalanches:

One skiers triggered slide on uptrack and one debris pile off Schuylkill ridge towards NW end of ridge.(photo)

Weather: Consistent light snow during our ski, S-1, with around 1inch accumulated between 9am to 1pm. Winds were generally light at our protected location. Limited visibility into surrounding alpine terrain.
Snowpack: On second lap our group experienced multiple large collapses on the skin track. Collapses were shooting cracks of distances greater than 50ft and one propagated uphill well over 100ft. Snowpack was failing on large grained facets near the ground. One collapse released a small slide with a crown depth of 2+ft.

Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/12/2018
Name: Alex Tiberio

Subject: Gothic observations
Aspect: North East, East, South West, West, North West
Elevation:

Avalanches:
Weather: Light snow letting up a bit after 2pm
Snowpack: Poked around on both sides of the east river valley staying on slopes less than 30 degrees. Frequent collapsing and shooting cracks on all aspects I traveled on except areas that did not hold any November snow. On NE and E the collapses were quite large and thunderous.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/12/2018
Name: Eleven Guides

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

Avalanches:

Small windslab on ski cut in near treeline, west facing, steep rockband, 35º, 20cm’s deep ran 50′ D1.
small windslab off shot in near treeline, west facing, 35º on 1/9 crust. 20cm’s D1.
Steep west facing, near treeline, SS-AE-R1-D1.5-O MF-12/21 (100cm x 20m x 100m) Ran on Depth Hoar Poly Crystals

Weather: Heavy Snow in the am lightening up in the pm, skies breaking up and clearing a bit at
15:00 though still flurries . Winds mostly light to moderate gusty NNW at the landing. High temp 21F.
.45″ SWE, 8″ in last 24hrs, HS 40″
Snowpack: Explosives used on backcountry snowpack….

Overall snowpack is weak with a very soft slab, mostly fist with a little 4F. The
12/21 interface is the most concerning which is where all the storm snow since December 21 is sitting on the
basal layers. On the more shady aspects the basal layer is facets or depth Hoar 1-4mm. On the more
Southwesterly aspects the basal layer is the classic sintering facet poly crystals with a crust on top. Most
profiles showing a 1cm crust 20-30 cm’s down where a few small wind slabs were running on. This is the 01/09
crust and will need to be tracked. Outer Limits a few collapses but no cracking. Profiles in the Apron
showed HS of 80-95. 20cm’s of 1-2mm facets on the ground. One thin 1cm crust around 35cm’s from surface
(1/9 crust). 4F hardness below the crust, F hardness above the crust. This crust showed Resistant Planar
characteristics while tapping on column but no propagation. ECTP 15, SC on Facets. Sunset & Moonrise ski
cuts and turns with no avalanches and minimal slab. Overall snowpack is stable and we felt pretty
comfortable moving around slope with minimal hazard on due to no real slab developed

Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 01/11/2018
Name: Jeff Banks

Subject: Snodgrass Obs
Aspect: North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: BTL-NTL

Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack: out poking around on snodgrass today.
slopes 90*-180* on the compass no signs of instability
slopes 45*-90* on the compass
~10 medium to large collapses with shooting cracks going out up to 35 ft

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/11/2018
Name: Eleven Guides

Subject: Eleven Guides PM Report (Cat tenure)
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 10000-12000

Avalanches:

Another noisy day on slope with minimal avalanche activity, mostly because we avoided steep terrain. The rolling thunder
persists on flats and shady compression zones, and significant avalanche hazard on slopes >35º A few small shallow
windslabs popped on the Jan 8 MFCr on Upper D&D, nothing stepped down to the basal layer.

Natural or remote D1.5, east facing BTL near gravel pit.

Weather: Partly cloudy morning with clouds hanging over high peaks all day. Orographic S-1 snowfall started to pick up mid afternoon. We picked up a T.
High 16, light WSW winds w Mod Gusts.
Snowpack: Overall, on Westerly terrain we’re seeing an unconsolidated pack (F-4F) with two
predominant crusts: 10 cm above ground pencil hard,3-5cm MFCr capping the depth hoar and Jan 8th ~1cm 1F,
MFcr, ~15-20 below surface (recent storm snow). Concern will grow when we get more snow or the slab stiffens. Explosives were not used today and avoidance was primary travel protocol. NTL/ATL significant westerly wind transport, perfect loading speeds.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/11/2018
Name: Ian HAVLICK

Subject: Scarp Ridge/Ruby Range
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 10-12,000ft

Avalanches:

1 natural/remote near gravel pit on Kebler Pass. 60ftx2ft deep, failing on ground. East facing, BTL.
Size 2 in NW bowl in Anthracites. Viewed from distance.
One size 1.5-2 on SE facing Purple Peak, ATL. Bad vis obscured solid details.
1 windslab failing ATL, S facing, Peeler Peak

Weather: Partly cloudy with residual clouds hanging and obscuring Ruby Range and high peaks across Elk Mountains. Clouds increased throughout afternoon under cold, NW flow, with light orographic snowfall accumulating to 1/4″ of very low density fluff. Winds remained blustery all day, at all elevations. Temperatures remained cold, with temperatures not climbing much out of the teens.
Snowpack: Continuously noisy snowpack. Lots of cracking, and monster collapses in low angle terrain and steeper, shadier terrain on west facing slopes where old snow has been preserved through drought. F-4F slab rests on very weak facets where signs of instability are common. Slab in this area ranges from 1-2ft with some areas deeper with windloading. Seemed terrain travelled today (up to 33º) wasnt quite steep enough and/or not quite enough load. Slab is stiffening with wind and cold temperatures and seems like it will get more reactive before stabilizing. Ski pen was 20cm, boot pen was to the ground. Several crusts exist in snowpack as well. One which the 1/10 storm fell on, and the other is deeper, potentially after holiday storm. time will tell if these allow load to grow deep before failing….

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 01/11/2018
Name: MR

Subject: Anthracites Naturals
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: 10,200-11,500

Avalanches:

See photo, elevation 10,500, ENE aspect r4d1.5-2? This is below and slightly skier’s left of the steep rollers skier’s left of sevens (which also had slid)
Also all the usual suspects – the NE facing steep shot at baby bowl. All the steep terrain above the skin track skier’s left of sevens, running through pretty tight trees. Multiple crowns in the playground. These all occurred between 2 pm yesterday when the scholo skier was last there and this morning at 9 when we toured through.
Also rode our sleds down the road to look at east bowl and get more practice digging out Sam’s sled – several slides throughout east bowl and running into friendly finish.

Weather: Chilly and gusty. Large snow plumes coming off of and swirling in east bowl.
Snowpack: Several large collapses throughout the tour both on and off the skintrack, including at least one large collapse produced on the skin track on our second lap. Surprisingly little in the way of shooting cracks, except for while breaking track through wind affected snow on the ridge. We stuck to low angle terrain and had no signs of instability while skiing. A solo skier skied rock and tree with no results. We also stomped off a few very small cornices into the south facing terrain, producing no results.

Photos: