Date of Observation: 02/21/2021
Name: Cosmo Langsfeld
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Cement Creek Ranch
Elevation: 9250’
Weather: <1” of new snow overnight.
Cruising on Axtell
Date of Observation: 02/20/2021
Name: Emilio Alcala
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Axtell Skin Track Glades
Aspect: North
Elevation: 10,050
Avalanches:
Weather: Mostly Sunny, West winds building, Warm-Hot in the sun, Cold in the shade.
Snowpack: 2 dig sites, 20 ft apart. Site 1 open relatively open glades, Site 2 tuckered in near tighter trees.
Site 1 HS 140cm, ECTP H
Site 2 HS 90cm, ECT N
Visually different basal layers, tree bomb compression/distrubance? (peppered as shown in photo from nearby, +/- 100m from dig)
Photos:
Elk Basin/ Scarp Ridge
Date of Observation: 02/19/2021
Name: Ian Havlick
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Scarp ridge/Indy Basin/Elk Basin/Mount Emmons
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 9,000-12,400
Avalanches: SS-N-R2-D2-O. Natural Persistent slab avalanche failing within last 24hrs on SE facing, heavily windloaded slope aet 12,000ft. Looked to have failed initally from cornice or additional windloading on 2/3 layer then quickly stepping down to rock on steep faceted slope. Debris ran far and entrained surprising amount of debris.
Weather: Cold. Blustery WNW winds 10-20 G40. Overcast. no new snow accumulation, minimal solar radiation.
Snowpack: Below and near treeline slopes ranged from 120-150cm+ in terrain traveled. Above treeline snowpack was variable as expected and scoured near ridgetop as per usual. Interesting reverse loading occurring with eroded cornices and deeper than expected sections of Scarp, especially above Evans Basin near the Gunsight Road. Pole probing continues to reveal poor structure with weak facets near the ground, although closer to 2-3mm facets in terrain I poked at. We traveled conservatively and assessed recent wind loading in terrain traveled and well as guarded against larger and wider slides given the structure
Photos:
WSW pocket on Snodgrass, may have been reported, can’t keep up.
Date of Observation: 02/19/2021
Name: chris Baldwin
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: WSW Snodgrass, open bowl
Aspect: South West
Elevation: 10700
Avalanches: HS-N-R2D1? ~35deg start zone, running into gully. CBAC note: we believe this is a slide first reported last week.
Weather: mild, W winds building on ridges, sun in and out
Snowpack: pit ~200′ above crown, HS 130cm, 30cm NS / 70cm 4F-1F slab / 30cm ~3-4mm DH
CT28 on DH, ECTN propagated on DH after some spirted extra credit taps
Photos:
Beckwith Range avalanche ob
Date of Observation: 02/20/2021
Name: Andrew Breibart
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Mt Emmons
Aspect: East, South East
Elevation: ATL, BTL, NTL
Avalanches: Photo from south ridge of Mt. Emmons facing west towards Kebler pass. This modified photo shows an avalanche in Beckwith Range which may have been captured in the blitzkrieg of avalanche observations the past 2 weeks. Looks like D1/1.5 from afar.
Weather: Excellent visibility today with some cloud cover
BTL: light winds and hot. no jacket or gloves.
NTL/ATL: moderate winds with gusts transporting snow into the bowl via cross-loading pattern. Loading didn’t seem to be significant during my tour. Colder temperatures ATL: puffy and winter gloves.
Snowpack: Red Lady Glades: BTL-heavier moisture laden snow which was like skiing wet powder on southern aspects in Tahoe in February and March.
Photos:
South face of red lady bowl
Date of Observation: 02/20/2021
Name: Michael Futch
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Red lady bowl below red coon ridge
Aspect: South
Elevation: 12000
Avalanches: Saw it from the skin track, looks like it started from the ridge
Weather: Calm wind, 14 degrees, partly cloudy
Snowpack:
Photos:
Elkton Hills
Date of Observation: 02/19/2021
Name: Eric Murrow Zach Kinler
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Elkton Hills
Aspect: South East, South, South West
Elevation: 9,400′ – 11,200′
Avalanches: While on pavement observed a small, fresh Wind Slab in Red Lady Bowl and a large avalanche above treeline on SE slope of Timbered Hill.
Weather: Partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies along Ruby Range with a few snowflakes and generally light winds below treeline. Snow transport observed above treeline throughout the day.
Snowpack: Traveled across some sunny slopes between 10k and 11.2K. No signs of instability observed with supportive snowpack to skis and boots. Dug a couple of test profiles on southerly slopes in the area (see photos). Test results suggested stubborn or ‘hard to trigger’ results. Slabs were generally 100cm or greater in thickness above concerning weak layers. One test profile was adjacent to a deep natural avalanche from last weekend with PST 90/125 end result in a previously drifted portion of the slope. The weak layer was slightly moist and rounding at two locations where buried 100cm or deeper. Collapsing deeply buried crusts seems to be possible at a thin spot in the slab, but far from likely through this terrain. Southerly slopes had dry surfaces in terrain traveled.
Photos:
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- Test profile below treeline on southwest slope in snow favored area
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- Test profile on below treeline southeast slope from snow favored area.
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- Fresh Wind Slab on southeast slope on Mount Emmons.
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- Believe this to be a recent avalanche on southeast alpine slope of Timbered Hill out Brush Creek.
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- Snow coverage on westerly slopes of Gothic Mountain.
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- Snow coverage on northwesterly slopes of Mt Emmons
Noisy snowpack but without result
Date of Observation: 02/18/2021
Name: Eric Murrow Evan Ross
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Slopes below Gothic Rd above East River Valley
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: 9400′ – 9800′
Avalanches:
Weather: Partly cloudy, cool temps, and light winds below treeline.
Snowpack: Moved through an area with shallower snow depths – generally around 90 – 120cm. Many slopes in this area ran naturally around 2/13. Slab thickness in this area was around 60 to 90cm. Ski penetration was around 6″. We experienced a good number of collapses…some by jumping, others just walking about. Some collapses may have traveled a couple of hundred feet producing cracks in one instance. Several collapses occurred immediately above steep northeasterly-facing slopes without cracking or avalanching on slopes below. Overall snowpack structure in this area looks very poor with 1finger slabs resting above well-developed, fist hard Depth Hoar (see image). Test results at two different sites with snow depths of 90cm and 115cm produced ECTP moderate results.
Photos:
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- Test profile from a northeasterly slope with shallower snow depths. Test results and nearby collapses suggest human triggering still a concern.
Fresh avalanche on Avery
Date of Observation: 02/18/2021
Name: BIlly Barr
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Avery diamond
Aspect: South West
Elevation: above treeline
Avalanches: Fresh avalanche observed on Avery Diamond
Weather:
Snowpack:
Photos:
Pockets the Clown
Date of Observation: 02/18/2021
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Slate
Aspect: North East, South West, West
Elevation: BTL
Avalanches: Two pockets pulled out across the valley that I did not see earlier. None seen near, around or above us except for some small surface stuffs.
Weather: awesome
Snowpack: I did not dig, probe or prod so I cannot say. Punched through the “midpack” on one old man air onto short 38-degree pitch did not propagate anything. Ski pen 8-10 inches when skiing.
Photos:
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- Forecaster note – reported in previous observation titled NW Mountains Avy Photos
