Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 02/22/2020
Name: Joey Carpenter
Subject: Pdivide ATL
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: 11-12.6k

Avalanches: S Aspect, R2D2.5, ATL, appearing to have run in recent days along the ridge connecting Bellview summit and W maroon pass. Observed from very far away but appeared to be over 1200ft wide (map estimate). Unable to estimate crown depth even through binos.

Large chunk of cornice broke off E side of Baldy within the last day or so. Did not appear to initiate a slab but large chunks made it well into the Quigley basin.

Weather: Low clouds filtered sun for most of the morning to keep snow surfaces above 11k dry. Temperatures remained warm and winds were calm. Clouds built throughout morning to our SW but didn’t make it to upper elevations by the time we left around 130p.
Snowpack: Firm, character building turns up high on any slope that has been exposed to solar in recent days. Shaded slopes were much better. Sastrugi skied well where it hadn’t been cooked off. Variable depth near wind scoured and sun baked ridge lines made for cautious route finding when choosing a decent. Tried to pick the deepest fetch we could find.

Massive cornices have built on the E side of Baldy above Quigley creek.

Photos:

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 02/22/2020
Name: Rec 1 from the Tropics
Subject: Snodgrass in the Tropics
Aspect: East, South East, South
Elevation: BTL, NTL

Avalanches:
Slab avalanche observed on a westerly aspect NTL-ATL.  Cornice formation observed below rideglines on easterly aspects on Mt. Axtel and Gothic.
Weather: Tropical, warm weather today when we went out at noon.  From noon increasing cloud cover caused temperatures to drop significantly.

Winds remained calm to light throughout the afternoon.

Snowpack: NE aspect, NTL. HS 130. F-4F 30-40cm thick slab above facets on upper snowpack with 20cm depth hoar on bottom. ECTP19 down 30cm failing on 1-2mm facets.

NE aspect, NTL. HS 116. 1F-4F sitting on top of P hard crust. Multiple crusts observed within the snowpack. 3mm large grain facets/depth hoar at bottom. CTN. ECTX. Pulling at both columns after test, columns failed at basil facet layer.

NE aspect, NTL. HS 140. F-1F snow sitting on top of 17cm on large grain facets/depth hoar. CTM Q1. ECTX.

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 02/22/2020
Name: Zack Kinler & Evan Ross
Subject: GMT Course Between Top Of The World And Gothic RD
Elevation: 9,600-11,600ft

Snowpack: HS-100-180 cm, below treeline slopes along the course from E-S were moist to wet which will lead to widespread crusting. E and NE slopes near treeline in the Top of the World area remained dry. No signs of instability were noted. A profile on a SE slope at 10,250 adjacent to the course showed stacks of crusts in the upper snowpack with the most concerning layer being a double crust with rounding facets between ~40 cm below the surface. CT results were observed but no results in ECT. Stability on this slope is good.

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 02/21/2020
Name: Ian Havlick
Subject: Ruby Chute
Aspect: North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: 10-12,800ft

Avalanches: Popped a few small wind slabs no deeper than 25cm descending couloir proper, fairly stubborn with most needing to have been undercut by the previous skier to then pop. Pretty manageable but enough slabs to keep our guard up.

Weather: clear, calm, strong solar radiation and noticeable valley inversion early before 0800.

Snowpack: crusty on souths with most of Monday’s snow either blown clear or cooked down. Shady aspects still hold cold snow and old wind slabs stubborn to weight of skier hang on in areas the sun cannot reach. 60m rope needed for rappel.

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 02/21/2020
Name: Kyle
Subject: Obs from Cony’s
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 9,800-10,800

Avalanches: Wet loose slides on South Face of Mineral Point. Debris seen NTL, E aspect in Wolverine basin.

Weather: Sunny, winds calm to light.

Snowpack: Wet snow and refreezing found on Southerly aspects. Shaded aspects did not experience melt/freeze. Poor structure confirmed with a hand pit and pole probes on NE shaded aspects. Strong slab above mudpack persistent weak layer seems supportive of skier weight on E aspects. No collapses or cracks experienced skiing slopes up to 35 degrees.

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 02/21/2020
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Look Around The Range
Elevation: 9,000-11,500

Avalanches: Simple look around the range near the divide. A few small loose wet avalanches were seen on east and southerly facing slopes at mid to lower elevations. Didn’t stay out late enough to see how SW and W held up.

A fresh cornice released, triggering a slab below that didn’t propagate across the slope very far on An East Aspect of Wolverine Basin at 11,800ft.
On Mt Gunnison, another cornices had released and triggered a large to very large slab on the east face below. This event didn’t necessarily look real fresh, but given what little detail could be seen from so far away its hard to tell.

Weather: Beautiful Day. Mostly clear sky, calm wind and mild temps.

Snowpack: Quiet and settled upper snowpack. Moist snow surface on steep southerly slopes.

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 02/20/2020
Name: Ian Havlick
Subject: Explosive Triggered Avalanche Irwin
Aspect: West
Elevation: 11,500

Avalanches: Persistent slab avalanche 40-100cm deep, 1F hard failing on 4mm depth hoar in terrain not really touched yet this season with ski traffic or explosives. 15# explosive triggered small pocket which gouged as it ran. Impressive debris and similar to other slides we have triggered within the past 2 weeks in similar terrain.

Weather: clear, calm, strong solar radiation.

Photos:

Location: Brush Creek Area
Date of Observation: 02/20/2020
Name: Eric Murrow
Subject: West Brush Creek
Aspect: East, South East, South
Elevation: 9000′ – 11800′

Avalanches: Viewed a couple more recent (failed early in the week) small slabs on east and northeast slopes near and below treeline.

Weather: Clear skies, cold valley bottom in moring gave way to mild air temps, and light winds.

Snowpack: Traveled to about treeline on Teocalli and dug a couple of test profiles – one on southeast(treeline) and another on an east slope(upper end of below treeline elevation) (see photos). Test results indicated that triggered avalanches remain possible. Sunnier slopes near and above treeline have crust/facet combinations with slabs resting above (likely similar structure to natural avalanches observed over the past week on south and southeast alpine slopes) and shaded slopes at upper end of below treeline elevation band have a very weak layer in middle of snowpack and near ground with a cohesive slab above. While stepping out of profile pit on E slope at 11000′, my partner and I produced a collapse in the snowpack that traveled several hundred feet but did not produce an avalanche on slope below (see photo).

Photos:

Location: Kebler Pass Area
Date of Observation: 02/19/2020
Name: MR
Subject: small windslab
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 11,300

Avalanches: Intentionally triggered small windslab just below ridge top at the entrance to a north facing chute. See photo.

Location: Crested Butte Area
Date of Observation: 02/19/2020
Name: Zach Bauer
Subject: Unemployment Column test
Aspect: North
Elevation: 10000

Avalanches: none on the sheltered chutes.

Weather: High level clouds and a calm day, not too warm.

Snowpack: Dug a pit at 10000′ on the north aspect of the Unemployment Chutes. The pit was 3′ deep, the recent storm snow failed during a column test at 2 hits from the elbow. The base of the column disintegrated at 3 hits from the shoulder. The basal layer is extremely faceted and empty faceted snow. The snowpack is currently 1/2 faceted sugar in the bottom half, and the rest is a firmer layer of two week and week old snow. Distinct failures at both the storm and old snow interface, as well as the faceted vs unfaceted snow down lower. The conditions in the sheltered glades gave the green flag for a good decent back to town.