Sunny side down

CBAC February 15, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/14/2021
Name: Zach Kinler
Zone: North and West of CB
Location: Obs from town looking north towards Paradise Divide
Aspect: South East, South, South West
Elevation: Near/Above Tree line

Avalanches: Observed several large to very large avalanches on the sunny side of the compass from town yesterday afternoon. These slides were on S and SE aspects near and above tree line and looked to have run sometime late Friday or early Sat as crowns have been filled back in a bit.

: Avery Pk, SE ATL

: Above Copper Creek, SE NTL

: Virginia Basin, S/SE ATL

: Good light on previously reported activity above Copper Creek. Very large avalanche connecting multiple paths.

: Augusta SSE, ATL. There appears to be a large and deep crown along ridgeline but uncertainty exists with poor vis.

Snodgrass avalanches

CBAC February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/14/2021
Name: Alex Tiberio

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Snodgrass and SE face of Gothic
Aspect: North East, South East
Elevation: N/BTL

Avalanches: Several fresh, wide avalanches on Snodgrass spotted this morning. Observed a large natural run off the SE face of Gothic this afternoon at 3:24 p.m.

Photos:

: Slides on Snodgrass this morning

: Natural off of Gothic this afternoon

Washington Gulch Avalanches

CBAC February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/14/2021

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Washington Gulch

Avalanches: A lot of avalanches out Washington Gulch. Mostly near treeline. I think crowns were 6 to 8 feet thick? Looked big next to trees. Several of the slides appeared today, maybe ran naturally or triggered by sleds romping around.

Photos:

Carnage seen from Coon

CBAC February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/14/2021
Name: Jared Berman, Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Pony Tail Glades /Coon Basin
Aspect: East, South
Elevation: 9200′-12,000′

Avalanches: Eight large to very large avalanches observed on mostly alpine terrain on south, southeast, west, northwest, and north aspects. See photos below.

Weather: Overcast skies that later cleared by late afternoon. Light winds from the NW at 12,000ft. No snow transportation observed at ridgetops.

Snowpack: New storm snow since Wednesday ranged from 8″ below treeline to 24″ near and above treeline. Although winds were calm last night, above treeline we could see pillows of previously wind drifted snow below ridgelines on easterly facing terrain. No cracking or collapsing was observed on any aspect we traveled on today. By late afternoon, snow surfaces below treeline on southerly aspects became moist with a thin breakable sun crust on steeper slopes.

Photos:

: Gorgeous light and cloud cover late afternoon

: South Bowl of Baldy with crown visible on southeast, crossloaded feature and flowing debris. Crown on south-facing part of South Bowl obscured.

: Image of South Bowl on Baldy with evidence of two separate crowns. See other photo for debris track with crowns obscured in clouds.

: Somewhat drifted over crown on near treeline, southeast-facing feature on Red Ridge above East River

: Broad and deep avalanche on southeast terrain on Peeler Peak

: Recent large avalanche on a west-facing near treeline slope of Cement Mountain.

: Two avalanches – one near deer creek trail on south aspect near treeline and a deeper avalanche behind on southwest slope of Teocalli Mountain

: Several fresh debris piles on southeast slopes of Pearl Mountain

: Deep crowns on north and northwest gullies of Whetstone. Failed in past 24 hours.

Slide Peeping

CB Avalanche Center February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/14/2021
Name: Ben Ammon

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Coneys
Aspect: North, North East, East
Elevation: BTL/NTL

Avalanches: Slab avalanche in West Side of Snodgrass, ran sometime between 0900-1200 on 2/14, same slide pictured in Briebart’s ob.
Shallow storm slab on West Side of Gothic (pictured)
Persistent slab x2 in SE bowl of Elkton Knob (pictured)
Observed a very large crown just below ridgetop on SE/E aspect of Quigley Basin on Baldy, only photo I could get looked like garbage.
Weather: OVC with a couple brief periods of sun before 1200, then clearing in the afternoon.
Winds were calm but starting to be light and blowing up Wash Gulch. Afternoon/early evening winds appear to increase dramatically up high.
Snowpack: No cracking/collapsing observed in lesser travelled terrain at Coney’s.
NE @10,500′ HS 185-190cm
ECTP23 down 60cm, ECTP30 down 120cm, PST110/130 END down 120cm

Photos:

Persistent slab sampler platter

CBAC February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/14/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Various BTL locations near the fringes of Crested Butte

Avalanches: Widespread persistent slab activity from the Friday night to Saturday night cycle. Fairly decent D1.5 to D2 cycle below treeline, mostly on the eastern quadrant. The most widespread activity was on the northern part of the valley (Wash Gulch to Snodgrass), while the below treeline slopes near and south of town remained mostly intact, with a few exceptions. Above treeline activity spanned the whole compass, quite a bit more windward aspects this time around. I suspect that’s because this storm came with much less wind towards the latter half. Didn’t get good views of easterly aspects above treeline today because alpine visibility didn’t materialize until sunset when those aspects are in the shade. See photos for specific details of avalanches.
Weather: A few light snow flurries throughout the day. Light winds in the afternoon with some light drifting snow at times.
Snowpack: Traveled in several different areas with a generally shallow snowpack. About 10″ to 12″ of settled storm snow. Triggered numerous rumbling collapses and shooting cracks breaking on basal weak layers about 2 to 2.5 feet deep.

Photos:

: East River, NE and E aspects BTL, D2 and D1.5

: East River, E aspect BTL, D2

: East River, E aspect BTL, D1.5 x2

: Rumbling collapse and shooting cracks in the flats of East River

: Shooting cracks and rumbling collapse

: Snodgrass, East BTL. D1 and D1.5

: Peeler Peak, East aspect ATL, D2

: Meridian Lake. NE aspect BTL, D2

: Meridian Lake. NE aspect BTL, 2x D2

: Peanut Lake Road, NE aspect BTL, D1.5

: Rumbling collapse and shooting cracks, NE aspect above Brush Creek

: Teo. S/SW aspects ATL. D1.5

: Near Crystal Peak. Westerly aspect, 2xD2

: Near Dry Basin/Deer Creek Trail. SE’rly aspects NTL. D1.5-D2

: WSC Peak, SE’rly aspects NTL, D2s and D1.5s

: Whetstone, E/NE BTL. D2

: Camel Humps above Copper Creek. Southerly ATL. D2-D2.5

: WSC Peak, SW’erly NTL. D2

Washington Gulch-Coneys

CB Avalanche Center February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/14/2021
Name: Andrew Select Breibart

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Washington Gulch-Coneys
Aspect:
Elevation: BTL

Avalanches: On the skin out today, I observed a D1/D0.5 avalanche on the north ridge of Snodgrass Mountain in Washington Gulch: BTL on W/ SW aspect in a drainage. Poor visibility on 2/13/21 prevented me from observing this avalanche. It likely failed 2/12-2/13 but I am uncertain.
Weather: calm. mostly obstructed skies. patchy S-1/S1 snowfall with no snow loading.
Snowpack: 2 to 4 inches of new snow in skin track. HS at one ridge top location was 155 cm. Same as yesterday, no cracking, collapsing, or whumping on/off skin track. Same plan as yesterday.

Photos:

Cement Creek Snow

CB Avalanche Center February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/14/2021
Name: Cosmo Langsfeld

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Cement Creek Ranch
Aspect:
Elevation: 9250′

Avalanches:
Weather: Snow fall quit by mid morning Sunday. ~10″ of new snow since Friday afternoon/evening. That might include some of the snow that fell later in the day on Friday, but most is from Saturday/Saturday night.
Snowpack: As of Friday, the new snow from middle of last week had been blown into 1F-4F windslabs in the valley bottoms. The ones I found were 4-8″ thick. Found a very thin (<1cm) sun crust on some aspects and in the flats just below newer snow (maybe from thursday?). HS in flats is about 2-3 feet, though deeper in wind pockets, shallower where wind scoured. Snow depth of hillsides varies greatly depending on aspect.

Road Above Death Pass

CB Avalanche Center February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/13/2021
Name: Marcel Medved

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Road above Death Pass
Aspect: East, South
Elevation: 9,500

Avalanches: We decided to avoid Death Pass, due to recent snow fall and multiple avalanche sightings returning from Friend’s Hut. Cornice Drop and Slab Avalanches around entire curve, as well as below the road. We caused cracking and set off a smaller slab avalanche below the road from 50-100′ away.
Weather: mid 20F, relatively calm.
Snowpack:

Photos:

East Brush Creek

CB Avalanche Center February 14, 20212020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/13/2021
Name: Marcel Medved

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: East Brush Creek Trail to Friend’s Hut just above the 3rd Creek Crossing
Aspect: East
Elevation: 11,400-10,400

Avalanches: Entire hillside (.4miles wide) slide from ridge to and across the creek, crossing the winter trail in one area (100-200yards wide). We came across this at 11am and it only had 1-2″ of fresh on top of it, so it ran Saturday 2/13 around 9am.
Weather: At Friend’s Hut it was around 20F with 12″ of fresh powder over night, bringing the total since 2/9 to around 24″.
Snowpack:

Photos:

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