Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 12/03/2018
Name: Chris Martin

Subject: Red Coon Glades – Whumphs and Shooting Cracks – Touchy Observations
Aspect: South East
Elevation: 11,000′

Avalanches:

N/O

Weather: calm , no drifiting snow observed.
Obscurred cloud cover
S-1 throughout the morning
Snowpack: Skied up through Coon glades today recognizing signs of instability, including whumpfs and shooting cracks that failed at similar depths on our tour up, all the way down to weak layer of facets. Weak layer did fluctuate characteristics on ascent. Appeared as Fist layer 10-15 cm of Basal facets at Pit #1 and changing to a Pencil hard 5cm frozen Layer crust at the ground with 2 mm facets above the crust. Test Results below. Great day to wiggle the low angle slopes.

Shooting Crack Pit #1:
HS 55cm SE Aspect 10,500′
F- 4F – F (top-Bottom)
Slab structure barely present but enough to whumpf, shoot a crack, and Fail on isolation of CT
Failures appearing on 10-15 cm layer of 1-2mm Basal Facets
CTV at crust above 10-15 cm layer of basal facets
No need for a Propagation test here, snow above column failed on isolation as well – see photos

Pit #2:
HS 70cm SE Aspect 11000′
F-4F-1F- P (top-Bottom)
Slab structure present in this pit
@30 cm from surface within storm snow CT 20 Q3 PC
@55cm from surface MFcr observed with 2mm FC directly above crust – PST 45 SF – See video
MFcr about 5 cm thick frozen at the ground

Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 12/02/2018
Name: Alex Tiberio

Subject: Snodgrass Obs
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 10,000

Avalanches:

None observed

Weather: Partly cloudy skies in AM light snow moving in around 3PM
Snowpack: Still whumping and collapsing. ECTP14 Q1 on a 33 degree slope failing on facets below the thanksgiving snow.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 12/02/2018
Name: Joey Carpenter

Subject: Kebler Obs
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 10200-11200

Avalanches:

1. Axtell 4th bowl observed from trailhead area. Appeared to be R1D2 windslab.
2. East bowl above friendly finish windslab. R1D1.5.

Weather: Broken skies from 930-1100am and calm winds -> overcast at 12pm with intermittent S1 snowfall, increasing winds and moderate snow transport at 11200 feet.
Snowpack: Storm snow has gained cohesion (F–>F+) since yesterday in the upper snowpack. NE aspect 11k moderate collapse in flat terrain. N Aspect 11.2k large, rumbling collapse that propagated well away from our party.

Photos:

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

Subject: Irwin Cat Ski Obs
Aspect: South, South West
Elevation: 10500′-12000-

Avalanches:

Touchy loose dry running fast. No Storm slabs observed today. Collapsing and cracking
still prevalent in previously travelled terrain like outerlimits. Both noticed above and below the rock band.

Weather: Deep day at Irwin. HST 23″ with 2.2″ SWE. Our HS is now sitting at 46″ for the season. Seems like we out performed both the WRF and the Open snow forecast for the second part of the three part storm cycle.
Snowpack: CT and ECT failing on isolation on facets below 11/22 interface.

Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 12/31/2018
Name:

Subject:
Aspect: East
Elevation:

Avalanches:

Experienced sluffing on slopes greater than 38 degrees.

Weather: Intermittent snow and sunshine with north wind gusting below tree line.
Snowpack: Dry snow with roughly 1.5-2 feet of storm snow on top of weak early season layers. Wind loading even below treeline

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 11/30/2018
Name: Eric Murrow

Subject: Afternoon Anthracite Ski
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 10,000′ – 11,250′

Avalanches:

Not sure if we triggered or well-timed naturals, SS-R1D1-I x 3

Weather: Heading out Kebler Pass at 145pm snow was generally S1, S-1 and continued at that level until about 430pm during the ride home when it ticked closer to S2. Winds were well behaved during this time with only light gusts.
Snowpack: At 240pm poked a hole on a NE slope at 10,800′ found an HS of 115cm, top 37cm was new snow since Wednesday afternoon (latest round of snowfall); it contained 1.2″SWE. Below this was 45cm of 1finger- snow from Thanksgiving storm cycle (weaker NSF were sandwiched between storm snow and Thanksgiving snow), and below this was 2-3mm facets for early Nov/Oct. Only toed into the edge of slope fully expecting it to collapse, but it didn’t (I believe this slope saw very little skier traffic this season, certainly no evidence in my hole).
Ascending to the ridge top, we were able to check out a south facing slope at 11,200. Here we generally found facets – crust-storm snow; some drifted areas had a second facet/crust combo on the ground from snow prior to Thanksgiving storm. As we skinned out the ridge and looked back there were three small Storm Slab avalanches that clearly had just ran immediately below where we just were (these ran on top of suncrust capping Thanksgiving storms. Not sure if we triggered these but seems like a strong possibility. I looped back around to inspect and while crossing same southerly slope we just probed, I got a good size collapse- wasn’t able to find any cracks but felt/sounded impressive for terrain size.

Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 11/30/2018
Name: Steve Banks

Subject: Dumping at Pittsburg
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: 10,500

Avalanches:

None observed.

Weather: S1-S2 all morning. Surprisingly little wind all day. It really started coming down at 11:30 and the wind picked up, but then it calmed right down again. Temps were warm, near freezing.
Snowpack: We mostly traveled in areas that had avalanched Thanksgiving weekend, and therefor didn’t see any new movement. We poked at some hillsides to see if we could get some action but found none. One large collapse in a flat bench NE facing at 10,000’ as the 3rd skier approached the group.
Test profile showed HS of 80 cms. 35cms of new snow with half of that lighter than the bottom half (right side up!). Found a soft crust below the new snow as we were on a more easterly roll. Below the crust was DFs and facets over the basal facets at the ground. ECT test got a break above the snow with no indication of propagation. Shovel tilt test showed new snow instabilities where yesterday’s wetter snow is capped by fryer snow.

Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 11/27/2018
Name: AR

Subject: Poverty Gulch/Camo Glade
Aspect: North
Elevation: 10,000′

Avalanches:

Traveling through the Slate River valley to Poverty Gulch we observed widespread natural avalanche activity. From Schuylkill Ridge through Camo Glades, BTL to NTL, any convex roll on NW-N-NE facing terrain had slid, likely mid-storm last weekend. We toured BTL in steep North facing trees and encountered debris, crows, and general chunder. Our group experienced whumphing and cracking on any areas that had not previously released. The natural avalanches seemed to have released on the weak buried snow early this season and could not handle the load of last week’s storm. The snowpack in these treed zones was overall too thin to have any “good” skiing. Also noted slab avalanches in the Daisy Pass zone with crowns near the base of large cliff bands, as well as two distinct slab avalanches on Augusta.

Weather: Sorry getting this Ob in a few days late, but the photos show what the Camo glades were like before the storm the last few days!

Tuesday 11/27 Wx: Clear and calm, with increasing clouds in the afternoon, temps around freezing.
Snowpack:

Photos:

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 11/29/2018
Name: Evan Ross

Subject: Shooting Cracks and Natural Avalanches
Aspect: East
Elevation: 11,100ft

Avalanches:

Visibility was poor in the afternoon. Observed 1 D2 natural avalanche near the Nuclear Chute in the Purple Palace Area. ENE facing terrain at 12,200ft.

Heard of two other Natural Avalanches around the same time in the afternoon by Ruby Mountain. Again poor visibility but sounded like D2 debris piles coming out of southerly and southeasterly terrain in the alpine. This slabs could have broken into old snow layers or pulled out within the storm snow, accumulating mass as they ran.

Weather: Overcast with just a little break in the clouds during the afternoon. I was only out for a few hours in the afternoon. Calm winds started to pick up as the clouds broke up a bit. Those winds seemed to be the culprit behind a couple of natural avalanches in the Ruby Range.
Snowpack: Summed up in this video. About 12″ new snow since noon on Wednesday. This new snow is adding load to the current PS avalanche problem. Also got some small shooting cracks in the upper 10″ of the storm snow.

Stepping onto a low angle 30 degree east facing slope at 11,100ft produced a large collapse and shooting cracks.

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 11/29/2018
Name: Joey Carpenter

Subject: Anthracite Dawn Patrol
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 10200-11400

Avalanches:

No new avalanches. Did get two small whumphs on the skin track and one large one just below the ridge btwx big and sliver.

Weather: Skies obscured with intermittent S1 snow and calm winds throughout the morning. Temperature 25 degrees at base of Anthracites at 6:15am. Colder near the top around 7:15.
Snowpack: Spx now around 1 meter depth in sheltered areas. 5-7 inches new snow from yesterday midday through this morning. Hand pits showed new snow sitting on top of the gobbler/post gobbler snow. Did not observe snow below thanksgiving storm but multiple pole prods felt relatively uniform through the new interfaces with rotten snow below all the way to the ground.

Photos: