At least one large natural this afternoon.

CBAC2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/07/2021
Name: Zach Guy

 

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Coney’s and Snodgrass
Aspect: North East
Elevation: N/BTL

 

Avalanches: Went up to Coney’s with good visibility mid-day to document more of the activity from the recent cycle. See photos. Spotted one large persistent slab on Scarp Ridge this evening that wasn’t there this morning that went to the ground.
Weather: Moderate to strong winds. Large plumes off of Whetstone and continued drifting, albeit less dramatic, off of the high peaks.
Snowpack: Traveled mostly on the beaten path but stepping away from skin tracks I got a couple of large collapses below treeline, both at Coney’s and at Snodgrass.

 

Photos:

Snodgrass Study Plot 2/7/21

CBAC2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/07/2021
Name: Jack Caprio
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 10,300′ below treeline

Avalanches: No new avalanches observed.

Weather: Few clouds. Temps in high teens and low 20’s. Moderate to strong westerly winds. Noticeable snow transport off neighboring peaks.

Snowpack: HS at the study plot was 95 cm. There was a 37 cm slab sitting on top of the 1/19 interface. The slab hardness increased from F to 4f just above the interface. 1/19 interface consists of 2-2.5 mm faceted crystals. Below the 1/19 layer is a mess of various faceted grains which generally grew in size the deeper they were in the snowpack. Snowpit tests resulted in moderate propagating results on the 1/19 layer, and a fracture, but no propagation on the 12/10 depth hoar layer. In a propagation saw test, the 1/19 interface propagated to the end of the column, while the 12/10 layer did not.

 

Photos:

Guess what!

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/07/2021
Name: Lee Pow

 

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Elk basin area, no name ridge
Aspect: South East, South, South West
Elevation: 9000-11000

 

Avalanches: A few D2’s off of primarily southern aspect, solar influenced.   1 ran at ~10am, the others maybe 2 hours after.  2 shaped drainages in the lower reaches slid wall to wall, likely during our last load
Weather: Sunny and windy AF
Snowpack: Guess what? It’s all facets.
130cm hst, 3 melt freeze crusts 3cm or thinner, about 20cm apart, all facets from about 40cm down. With about 20cm of windbuff on top. Like sour cream on top of a rotten burrito.

Tried 2 ects, both failed before fully isolated ;)~

Its going to get better……right????

 

Lower Slate goes big

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/07/2021
Name: Frank Stern

 

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Lower Slate River
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 9000-10,500′

 

Avalanches: Most of the Climax chutes ran down to the river. Scarp’s Ridge and Schuykill.
Weather: Sunny, 32 F, 10 mph wind
Snowpack: Was stable on flat ground

 

Photos:

Roadside Attractions

CBAC2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/07/2021
Name: Jared Berman

 

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Whetstone pictures taken fron CO-135
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 9,000

 

Avalanches: Two recent storm slabs that ran naturally at 9,000ft on NE facing slopes.
Weather: Sunny skies, warm temps, and strong winds from the NW.
Snowpack: Driving around, I observed active wind loading on easterly terrain features above treeline. Many avalanches observed on Whetstone, most of which have already been reported. I never left the car.

 

Photos:

Crowns galore: Morning avalanche obs

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/07/2021
Name: Zach Guy

 

Zone: Northwest Mountains and Southeast Mountains

 

Avalanches: See photos, numerous D2 to D3 slides near and above treeline. Many of these were first observed yesterday morning, I’m just adding some higher res photos. We didn’t have views of the Ruby Range yesterday so some of these are new observations, although the timing is uncertain. The slide above Axtell’s Green Lake likely ran last night (maybe initiated by cornice fall?) because I didn’t see those crowns yesterday. Will add estimated sizes and aspects later tonight.
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

Photos:

Dog walk avy obs

CBAC2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/07/2021
Name: Zach Kinler
Zone: Northwest Mountains

Avalanches: Got views of a few more large avalanches to the north and west of town. The slides on the South aspect of Mineral Point and the ESE aspect of Baldy have crowns that have filled in a bit indicating they likely ran late on 2/5 or early 2/6. The Rock Creek Bowl slide on Baldy’s SE side looks a bit fresher, possibly during the day yesterday or overnight.

 

 

Carbon

CB Avalanche Center2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 02/06/2021
Name: Emilio Alcala

 

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Carbon Peak North
Aspect: North
Elevation: 9,200 – 11,200

 

Avalanches: One large avalanche that broke during the early morning of 2/6 on a steep, cross-loaded, north-facing bowl off Carbon. Seems to have broke within old snow.
Weather: Moderate west winds, partly sunny
Snowpack: New snow ranged from 12-14″. Widespread collapsing and cracking on north-facing slopes off of Carbon. Slab is soft lower on the face and is where most of the collapsing/cracking occurred. As we moved higher up the face, the slab stiffened and supported the weight of a skier. Around 11,000ft, snowpack height averaged 150cm and surface snow has stiffened due to wind.  Blowing snow was observed from ridgetops all day on to easterly facing slopes.

 

Photos: