October 16, 2021

CBAC featured in Backcountry Magazine

The CBAC is featured in this month’s Backcountry Magazine, in an article that highlights the history and current operations of our local avalanche center.  You can read the issue here.

 

Featured image for “CBAC featured in Backcountry Magazine”

Your observations are critical to an accurate avalanche forecast product! Please send the CBAC any photos, trip reports, near misses, storm totals in your area, etc. You could save a life.

May. 23, 2023

More wet slabs on Whetstone

Date of Observation: 05/21/2023
Name: Turner Peterson

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Whetstone

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: More whetstone NE/E wet slabs lake bowl

6272

May. 18, 2023

Large wet slides below Scarp Ridge

Date of Observation: 05/18/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Scarp Ridge, viewed from Snodgrass TH

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A pair of large wet avalanches ran sometime since I had views of that area yesterday at noon. They appear to be cornice-triggered wet slabs

Photos:

6270

May. 17, 2023

More wet slab activity on Whetstone

Date of Observation: 05/17/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: M Face on Whetstone. Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Another fresh wet slab on Whetstone. M Face ran sometime this afternoon.

Photos:

6269

May. 17, 2023

Shallow freeze on Gothic

Date of Observation: 05/17/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Peak, traveled on southerly and easterly aspects to 12,600′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The bulk of recent avalanches have been D1-1.5 wet loose on northerly aspects N/ATL, where the snow is still in a transitional phase.
Weather: Scarp Ridge (@12k) had a minimum temp of 37 last night under clear skies. Mountain temps rose to the mid 40’s to mid 50’s, with partly cloudy skies developing by mid day. Calm winds where we traveled.
Snowpack: About 5″ refreeze which was just enough for mostly supportive boot pen and supportive ski pen before sunrise. Good corn around 8:30 a.m. on easterly aspects. Once crusts broke down later in the morning, ski pen became trapdoor near rocky areas and trees. It was easy to trigger small wet loose avalanches, but they didn’t gain volume; just ran slowly down existing runnels. Cornices are still big and saggy looking; we chose routes that avoided being underneath them given the warm day.

Photos:

6268

May. 16, 2023

Wet slabs Barcelona Bowl

Date of Observation: 05/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Whetstone. Viewed from town.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches:  Two large wet slabs ran today, adjacent to but independent of each other in Barcelona Bowl, probably cornice triggered.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6267

May. 12, 2023

April wet slab activity from West Brush and Copper Creek

Date of Observation: 05/10/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Copper Creek and West Brush Creek areas, viewed from Whiterock

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous previously undocumented D2 to D3 wet slabs likely ran during our April 9 to April 13 wet cycle. I coded their failure dates during the peak of the cycle 4/10 – 4/11, although I suspect activity was distributed across a wider date range than that.

Photos:

6265

May. 12, 2023

April wet slab activity from Copper Creek

Date of Observation: 05/10/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Copper Creek area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous previously undocumented D2 to D3 wet slabs likely ran during our April 9 to April 13 wet cycle. I coded their failure dates during the peak of the cycle 4/10 – 4/11, although I suspect activity was distributed across a wider date range than that.

Photos:

6264

May. 12, 2023

Dust on crust and a recent wet slab

Date of Observation: 05/12/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Axtell 4th Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A recent-looking large wet slab in Evan’s Basin. I’m guessing it ran sometime in the past few days.
Weather: Partly cloudy skies. Light northeast winds.
Snowpack: Less than 1″ of new snow above 10k, with isolated drifts up to 5″ from northeasterly winds ATL. Marginal refreeze due to last night’s cloud cover and insulating new snow, but the snow surface remained supportive under skis with good corn-like skiing through 9:30 a.m on northeast aspects. No signs of instability this morning.

Photos:

6263

May. 09, 2023

Pow, corn, and wet loose on White Rock

Date of Observation: 05/09/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red Ridge to Queen Basin to Whiterock Mtn

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered and observed a few fresh natural wet loose avalanches on high, north-facing terrain up to D1.5 in size.
Numerous previously undocumented wet slabs from the April cycle, D2-D3. I’ll document those in a separate ob later this week.
Weather: Clear to few clouds, warm temps, light breeze.
Snowpack: Wet loose avalanches became reactive to ski cuts by mid day on ATL northerly terrain, where the top 6″ of dry powder was just now transitioning to wet snow. Elsewhere, the snow surface has matured through numerous melt-freeze cycles and wet loose avalanches appeared to be unreactive, even on steep terrain late in the day. The snow surface remained supportive to skis through 4 p.m. at all elevations except for a few spots near evergreen trees below treeline.

6262

May. 07, 2023

Powder in them hills – rain on the beach

Date of Observation: 05/07/2023
Name: Chris Martin

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Today we traveled up Purples SE ridge to the top of the S couloirs and descended the couloirs with careful evaluation of snow totals and slab cohesion, with techniques that mitigated our exposure.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Dry loose, slow running

Weather: Low visibility, Light-Moderate winds and blowing snow. Cold.

We decided after last weeks warmup to wait for weather stations to reveal the refreeze this weekend and the cold temps that persisted throughout yesterday and today gave us the confidence to push into the alpine for today. The refreeze remains minimal below 2′ down on South Aspects.

Snowpack: 6-8″ of wind blown snow on top of a MfCr. We observed minimal and shallow cracking that remained local to the tips of our skis. The new snow seems to be bonding quite well to the old crust.

We observed pockets of deeper wind transported snow, we did not encounter anywhere these totals were connective across an entire slope as a recipe for propagation.

While traveling we also noticed the warm up from last week in the snowpack. Specifically on South aspects the freeze penetrated about 2 feet down from the past freezing temps since the morning of 5/4 and snow was moist/wet below that.

6261

Apr. 30, 2023

Large avalanche off Mt Owen

Date of Observation: 04/30/2023
Name: Insta Gram

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Ruby Peak.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Large slab avalanche off Mt Owen, with debris to Green Lake. Appeared to be cornice triggered.

Photos:

6258

Apr. 29, 2023

Still seeing NE isolated Wind Slab Activity

Date of Observation: 04/29/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Sledded up wash gulch and skied Quigley Creek Bowl and then the east bowl on Baldy with Syd and Sam.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Still seeing isolated NE Wind Slabs. Second skier triggered a small pocket. Turned to slow loose wet toward bottom. Ran maybe 400’.
Weather: Sunny. Warm. Winds from the NW.
Snowpack:

Photos:

6256

Apr. 28, 2023

Wet collapses and a couple small skier triggered slides

Date of Observation: 04/28/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate and Yule Pass areas. Traveled mostly on easterly and northerly aspects to 12,600′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: On north-facing terrain ATL, I skier triggered a thin wind slab (~6″ x 8′) and a loose dry avalanche that both ran about 800′ (D1s).
Wednesday’s sunny weather after the storm spurred a wet shed cycle around the compass except for high northerlies. These were mostly wet loose, D1-1.5, and a handful of slabs up to D2. Not sure if they were moistening storm slabs or wet slabs; the debris looked fairly wet.
Weather: Clear, unseasonably cool temps. Moderate northwest winds were blowing the 1″ of new snow around with small plumes off of high peaks.
Snowpack: 1″ of new overnight and winds formed isolated, thin wind slabs ATL. These appeared to be bonding well on solar aspects; got one to pop on a crossloaded north facing slope. There’s up to 10″ or so of recent storm snow from the Tuesday night storm which hasn’t fully transitioned yet and could continue to produce more wet loose activity this weekend, especially to human triggers. At 1 p.m. while skinning up Yule Creek (~10k’, fairly flat terrain), we were getting widespread collapses on the dust layer, which was about 6″ to 8″ deep and saturated. Most collapses were a ski length or two wide, but some produced shooting cracks up to 30′ or 40′. This suggests there is potential for thin wet slabs this weekend as well, similar in character to the avalanches on Schuylkill Ridge shown below.

Photos:

6255

Apr. 28, 2023

Skier triggered slab on Owen

Date of Observation: 04/28/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Owen, north side ATL

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a soft slab. See photo.

Photos:

6254

Apr. 26, 2023

Small long running wind slab M face

Date of Observation: 04/26/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Skied the M face on Whetstone with Tom Rob and Dan.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We kicked the top cornice which produced a very isolated and small wind slab that entrained any available surface snow on a stout north crust. Ran 1000′.
Weather: Sunny. Winds from the NW.
Snowpack: 5′ of new snow on a firm glazed north crust.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
6253

Apr. 25, 2023

Lil Spooks on Skooks

Date of Observation: 04/25/2023
Name: Whitney Gilliam

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Skooks main skinner!

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Cloudy, warm, off and on precip
Snowpack: Noticed lots of water in the snowpack ~1ft+ down in the snowpack while breaking trail… hard to say if it was because of rain or a poor freeze. Didn't think too much of it, but near the skooks bench I experienced two large wumphs/collapses and decided to turn around :)

6252

Apr. 22, 2023

AMR storm instabilities

Date of Observation: 04/22/2023
Name: Mark And Turner

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: AMR, playground

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Intentional windlip/cornice triggered small storm slab south anthracites which ran full track. Video on insta, freeze frame below.

Ski triggered thin wind slab east facing top of y chute which ran 500 ft or so. See photos.

Skied north facing below tree line with no other signs of instability

Weather: Intermittently heavy snow and sun, with some afternoon graupel. Light winds, cool air temps

Photos:

6251

Apr. 22, 2023

Earth Day was too hot for the powder day

Date of Observation: 04/22/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: NE-E-SE 9,500-11,500. Purple Ridge Area.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: At 1pm, wet loose avalanches were reactive on NE and E below 11,300ft. These were generally small, but where they could run and accumulate mass they became large in size. We skier triggered several small wet avalanches and one become large in size. Another party had triggered more wet avalanches in similar terrain.

Weather: Convective snow showers with some moderate winds and drifting snow during those periods. The greenhouse was in full effect.

Snowpack: Recent storm totals were around 20 to 25cm at 11,000ft. Less snow at lower elevations and more snow at higher elevations… On the lee side of Purple Ridge, the drifts were a couple of feet thick. It was difficult to assess how far the thicker drifts extended into the slopes below. Wind slabs felt stubborn, but there was a notable lower-density layer of snow near the bottom of the drifts.

Snow surfaces become moist to wet on the sunny aspects, and thick/moist on northerlies BTL.

Photos:

6250

Apr. 19, 2023

Kebler storm check in

Date of Observation: 04/19/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Pass road up to Scarp Ridge.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: none
Weather: Light snowfall with obscured views. Strong southwest winds.
Snowpack: At 330pm, storm totals were less than 2 inches.  Snowfall rated increased as I left the area.  Strong winds blasted the snow towards leeward terrain features. The lowest-elevation terrain, below 9,500 feet, snow surfaces were soft from mild-ish temperatures but did not pose a loose avalanche threat. I dug a quick hole on a north-facing slope immediately adjacent to Crested Butte and found meltwater had drained 2+ feet into the snowpack. There was still some free water present. I do not expect this to create any avalanche concerns; I was simply checking on how deep meltwater has drained on the warmest north-facing slopes.

6248

Apr. 17, 2023

Afternoon Slate

Date of Observation: 04/17/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Baxter Basin, North to 12,000ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Difficult to tell if there have been more natural loose wet avalanches since yesterday. Nothing notable stood out.

Weather: Few clouds, hot, calm wind.

Snowpack: Due north was dry and provided great skiing with minor sluffing in steep terrain. Just about everything else was looking hot and not inviting in the afternoon. NE slopes had gone through a shed cycle where they were steep and rocky. Lower elevation NE slopes had a shiny appearance from a distance.

Photos:

6246

Apr. 17, 2023

More details for the 4/12 Poverty Gulch Wet Slab

Date of Observation: 04/17/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Poverty Gulch near Pittsburg.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: This avalanche was previously reported and ran on 4/12.

This wet slab was triggered by a wet loose avalanche from above. In total, it ran 800 vertical feet, though the slab only ran about 400ft. It was surprisingly destructive. In the debris there were many aspen trees, maybe 30 to 50, and there were about 10 mature pine trees. This slope had several wet loose avalanche events in the couple of weeks before it ran as this wet slab.

Photos:

6245

Apr. 17, 2023

Wet avalanche Coneys

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Coneys

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Triggered on the rollover at the end of coneys. 11 am ish

Photos:

6243

Apr. 16, 2023

Small skier triggered wind slab Baxter Basin

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Skied 2 laps on the s tube and down to our sleds via camo glades.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Kicked off a very small wind slab maybe 15 feet wide on my entrance ski cut that ended up entraining my Sluff. Ran maybe 800ft. Wouldn’t bury you but wouldn’t be fun. Took place skiers left of s proper.
Weather: Sunny
Snowpack: Cold 7” on northerlies.

Photos:

6242

Apr. 16, 2023

Upper Slate wet loosies and wind slab.

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Purple Ridge to 12,200′. Easterly and northerly aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous small wet loose avalanches ran at all elevations, predominantly on east and southeast aspects this morning (D1s). A few reached around to NE aspects BTL. These all ran on the dust/crust layer. We skier triggered a couple of similar avalanches and observed other skier triggered slides as well. Skier triggered one hot wind slab that entrained wet loose snow on a crossloaded gulley below treeline (D1).
Weather: Light ridgetop winds, minor transport. Clear skies. Springlike temps.
Snowpack: Settled storm snow depths ranged from 4″ to 8″, notably redistributed by wind in this area.
Targeted a few windloaded test slopes and could only get localized cracking with no releases, until we got one wind slab to pop later in the day in a steep chute. Drifts were up to 2 feet thick below large fetches, but the cracking was occurring on a mid-storm layer about 6″ to 8″ deep.
Mid to high northerlies stayed dry, with wet loose activity beginning mid-morning on easterlies. The 4/14 interface stayed frozen and supportive to ski pen through midday.

Photos:

6241

Apr. 16, 2023

Slab avalanches from yesterday’s storm

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Slate River Road and Purple Ridge.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Schuylkill Ridge saw a wind slab cycle (averaging D1.5) on crossloaded terrain from Northwest winds yesterday. Several other soft slabs above treeline ran during or after the storm yesterday.

Photos:

6240

Apr. 16, 2023

A few more wet slabs from last week’s cycle

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more previously undocumented wet slabs. These ran sometime after Evan was in the area mid-day on 4/12, so likely the afternoon of 4/12 or sometime 4/13.

Photos:

6239

Apr. 16, 2023

Wet Loose on Gothic Little Spoon

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Gunnar Doyle

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Started at Washington Gulch TH, made our way up the ridge to the west of the Spoon. Skied the little spoon to the lookers left of the spoon twice.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: R.5, D1 Wet Loose triggered by skier. Skier was able to ski out unharmed. The avalanche ran a few hundred feet down the terrain feature.
Weather: Sunny, no winds, 35°
Snowpack: A few inches of fresh snow from Friday night’s storm on top of a crust.

Photos:

6238

Apr. 16, 2023

Mineral point

Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Name: Sean Feese

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Normal sled route out slate to the daisy pass area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Ski cut one wind slab which triggered on the east face. Shallow, soft ran a few hundred vert. A handful of small windslabs released naturally. East aspect recieved sun midmorning and developed a crust when temps dropped in the afternoon. S face remained dry all day.
Weather: Partly cloudy, breezy. Light snow in the morning.
Snowpack: Overnight temps set up the old snow, though some spots near valley bottom remained wet and the snowmobile cut through. Significant wind loading all day in the alpine on easterly aspects.

Photos:

6237

Apr. 16, 2023

Walrod Gulch

Date of Observation: 04/15/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Walrod gulch road, from the parking lot on cement creek road, .2 miles up the trail.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: The available appears to have run mid week during the warm up. Some of the snow/ice chunks were 2-3 feet in diameter. Some tree damage near the base of the hill. Debris stopped at the base of the hill before hitting the main trail.
Weather: Sunny and cool
Snowpack: Dust on fragile crust. About two inches of fresh snow on top of unstable crust.

Photos:

6236

Apr. 15, 2023

Cornice fall on Mt. Axtell

Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Axtell Green Lake Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D2 cornice fall above Green Lake, likely yesterday or today.

Photos:

6235

Apr. 15, 2023

Soft slabs and wet loose on Emmons

Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mount Emmons on various aspects to 12200′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of thin soft slabs and wet loose avalanches involving the new snow ran naturally or were triggered today (D1s). Most of the slabs were in wind-affected terrain, but at least one broke more like a storm slab.
Weather: Scattered cloud cover cleared by early afternoon. The alpine felt cold and wintery; moderate to strong northwest winds with periods blowing snow. Below treeline felt mild and springlike.
Snowpack: Storm totals increased from a few inches near valley floor up to 10″ above treeline. The snow appeared to be bonding well on most undrifted slopes, but I popped a shallow slab on a rollover below treeline that broke near the storm interface. Drifts averaged about a foot deep and were up to 2′ thick in heavily drifted areas. I produced localized cracking up to 5′ in drifts. I didn’t see any natural wet loose activity today but it was becoming easy to trigger at low elevations by about 1 p.m., involving the top 4″ of wetting snow over the dust/crust. Near the valley floor, that crust was breaking down this afternoon and ski pen was knee-deep on a few slopes.

Photos:

6234

Apr. 14, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary April 7-13, 2023

The weekly summary is here. Who turned up the thermostat? This week saw soaring temperatures and impressive wet avalanche activity.

Weekly Summary April 7-13, 2023 COMPRESSED
Apr. 13, 2023

NE wet avalanche in the Bear Claw area of Mt Wetstone

Date of Observation: 04/12/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Bear Claw

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: NE 11,000ft. A wet avalanche that gouged deeply and accumulated additional snow. Large debris pile in the apron below and not visible in the photo. Hard to tell if this avalanche was a wet loose, wet slab, or maybe started by a small cornice chunk.

Photos:

6231

Apr. 13, 2023

Washington Gulch

Date of Observation: 04/13/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Baldy. NW and S.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: I didn’t notice any new avalanche activity.

Weather: Cloud cover was partly cloudy through mid-day and then increased through the afternoon. Moderate winds at upper elevations.

Snowpack: Snow surfaces were frozen and supportable near the trailhead.

Skied NW into the P-Divide bowl and didn’t leave any tracks. Realized the no tracks thing could be a fun game during times like these. The snow surface was a thin supportable crust over dry snow.

Skied the South Bowl of Baldy around 1 pm. The crust wasn’t supportable off the top and ski pin was dropping into the wet mushy snow below. This was in part because of the below-average snowpack depth that exists in the top 1/4 of the bowl. We traveled skier left where the snow surface was supportable but I could still plunge my pole into the wet snow below. The snowpack was stronger in the runout either from the old avalanche debris or the increased snowpack depth.

The snowpack was supportable on the route back to the trailhead.

Quote from Than: “Remember, If it snows tonight, we get to claim that we skied the dirtiest day of the season… so far.”

Photos:

6230

Apr. 12, 2023

Like powder, but sandier and not as deep.

Date of Observation: 04/12/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate, Purple Ridge.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: More of the same. Mostly loose wet avalanches with some gouging deeply into the snowpack.

Weather: A little bit of everything. Cloud cover was alternating between partly cloudy and mostly cloudy. Some convective pulses pushed through and even a little rain.

Snowpack: The snowpack stayed supportive to boots through mid-day, then things felt like they were starting to deteriorate more quickly on my way home. Skiing was lovely, often grabby, and slow, and I even got chased by a pack of brown roller balls to keep it interesting. Was out to gather some equipment and didn’t tango with much avalanche terrain.

Dug into a 30-degree NE-facing slope at 10,800ft. The wetting front had made it about 40cm’s deep. It was just hitting an interface at this location. CTN in the upper snowpack. Loose wet avalanches looked like the primary hazard in this location.

Photos:

6229

Apr. 12, 2023

Backlogging a few cornice falls and older slides

Date of Observation: 04/12/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Various locations

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Adding a few more cornice falls and older avalanches observed this week to the database.
Photos:

6228

Apr. 11, 2023

A few more naturals from Beckwith, Marcillena, and more

Date of Observation: 04/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Kebler Pass Road

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: More large wet avalanches likely ran today or yesterday. And an older dry slab(!!!) triggered by cornice fall. See photos.

Photos:

6227

Apr. 11, 2023

Large wet avalanches in SE mtns near town

Date of Observation: 04/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few large wet slabs on Gothic ran today. A few large wet avalanches on Mt. CB ran yesterday evening.

Photos:

6226

Apr. 11, 2023

Another sad day for our snowpack. More ugly wet activity from the NW Mtns

Date of Observation: 04/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Afternoon snowmobile tour to Scarp Ridge, Beaver Ponds TH, and Horse Ranch TH documenting wet avalanche patterns from the last few days.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: More wet action.  In summary, all of the large (D2+) avalanche activity (both wet slab and wet loose) has been happening on east, south, and west aspects, mostly near and below treeline, where meltwater is most intense right now. I saw a few wet slabs break near 12,000′ into above treeline type of terrain. These were all on rocky, shallow slopes facing SE. There’s still plenty of wet loose activity happening on NE and NW aspects but it’s still shallow and not gouging like the southern side is, and no wet slabs on the northern half of the compass thus far.
Weather: Hot.
Snowpack: A quick handpit on a 30 degree, SE facing slope at 12,000 feet this afternoon had wet snow about 6″ deep and moistening snow below that. The snowpack was generally supportive to sledding near and above treeline with track pen about 6″. It was trapdoor in a few low-elevation areas.

Photos:

6225

Apr. 11, 2023

S face Mt CB BTL

Date of Observation: 04/11/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: –

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Loose wet avalanche starting in complex terrain on S face of mt cb and hitting aspens at the bottom of a rarely seen slide path above the upper loop.
Weather: 53 in skyland
Snowpack: Flush the dust

Photos:

6224

Apr. 11, 2023

Gibson ridge double trouble

Date of Observation: 04/11/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: –

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Second hangfire wet slab east face Gibson ridge BTL
Weather: Nuclear
Snowpack: Red

Photos:

6223

Apr. 11, 2023

Flush the dust

Date of Observation: 04/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Morning tour into Peeler Basin, traveling mostly on northerly aspects to 12,000’

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few wet slabs on S to SE aspects NTL that ran yesterday, D1.5 to D3. Several large gouging wet loose BTL on SE and E. Plenty of shallow wet loose at all elevations (D1 to D1.5), spanning around to NE aspects at higher elevations and N BTL. More photos later tonight.
Weather: Clear, light winds. Waaaarm.
Snowpack: Marginal refreeze: punchy boot pen and supportive ski pen at 9 am. Felt like the window for good corn on SE was about 9:30 NTL. Still dry powder on high due north; Northeast ATL started rollerballing this morning. Bigger pinwheels as we descended to north BTL, and we triggered a few shallow wet loose involving just the white snow above the dust layer. North quadrant appears to be ways off from water draining into the snowpack for wet slab issues.

Photos:

6222

Apr. 11, 2023

Soggy Red Ridge wet activity on 4/10

Date of Observation: 04/10/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Pavement observations

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful more large Wet Loose and Wet Slab avalanches failed in the Red Ridge area. Wet Slabs seem to be the biggest issue on easterly and westerly aspects with more southerly slopes generally being a loose problem.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6221

Apr. 10, 2023

Wet activity from southern end of Whetstone and East side Gothic

Date of Observation: 04/10/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Hwy 135 obs

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several loose avalanches from easterly aspects yesterday viewed early this morning. A handful more gouging wet loose on easterly terrain and loose/slab hybrid avalanches up to D2.5.

Photos:

6219

Apr. 10, 2023

Wet activity from yesterday in Brush Creek

Date of Observation: 04/10/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: West and Middle Brush Creeks.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Documenting yesterday’s avalanches from West Brush. See other ob for today’s wet avy’s.

Photos:

6218

Apr. 10, 2023

Why leave for the desert when the desert came to us?

Date of Observation: 04/10/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: West Brush Creek drainage and Teocalli Mtn to 13,200. Traveled on various aspects, back to the TH by 2 before the peak of meltwater drainage.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: See photos and details below. Yesterday’s slides are documented in separate ob.
BTL: Several large gouging wet loose, wet slabs and glide avalanches ran yesterday. Activity was escalating today, we observed three wet slabs run between 1 p.m and 2 p.m on east aspects (D2-D2.5) and a full-depth wet loose on a south aspect (D2). The wet slabs failed just above the ground and one snapped fairly mature trees.
NTL: A few shallow wet loose (D1-1.5) ran yesterday, along with several large wet slabs (D2) on south to west aspects, in shallow, rocky terrain. Saw one wet slab run today on an east aspect (D1.5) and some more small wet loose activity. Left before the south to west aspects were at peak instability.
ATL: A few fresh cornice falls (D2) and a few shallow wet loose avalanches (D1-1.5). Notably quieter than mid and low elevations for wet activity.
Also a notable D3+ came off of the south face of Teo about a week ago (I’m guessing April 1). It started as a broad storm slab ATL and stepped down into old hard slabs in the gullies before reaching valley bottom.
Weather: Clear, calm winds, sweating profusely by mid day.
Snowpack: Surfaces were frozen and supportive to boot, ski, and sled this morning for a few hours. By about 12:30, east aspects BTL were unsupportive in steep, rocky areas (boot pen thigh+ deep), and small test slopes were easy to initiate gouging wet loose. Wet slab activity began shortly after that here. High northerly aspects remained dry, but were just starting to get damp and rollerball on NE aspects around 12,000′. On planar sunbaked slopes ATL (not near rocks), water had moved into the top 5″ or so. Sledding out became on and off trapdoor this afternoon. The dust is now widespread on the surface at all elevations in the SE mtns, except for high north.

Photos:

6217

Apr. 09, 2023

Cornice fall Hunter Hill

Date of Observation: 04/09/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Hunter Hill

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Cornice fall on Hunter Hill
Photos:

6216

Apr. 09, 2023

More large natural avalanches on the west side of Mt CB

Date of Observation: 04/09/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Obs from town.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several large natural avalanches running out of the westerly side (Terminator Chutes) of Mount Crested Butte. These ran around 6 or 7pm.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6215

Apr. 09, 2023

Wet Loose Slides on Red Ridge

Date of Observation: 04/09/2023
Name: Grant Robbins

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Skinning back to Snodgrass TH around 6:45pm noticed a few wet loose slides on south aspect of Res Ridge

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6214

Apr. 09, 2023

Wet snow observation in Kebler Pass area

Date of Observation: 04/09/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Pass corridor to Evan Basin on Emmons and up to Scarp Ridge.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A recent glide avalanche on an easterly aspect of Whetstone BTL on shale slopes, a handful of small wet loose avalanches near treeline, and fresh cornice fall on Emmons along skin track ridge near treeline.
Weather: Some cloud cover in the morning gave way to mostly clear skies by noon and the afternoon. Warm temperatures below treeline, near freezing temps above treeline, and light west-northwest winds at ridgetops.
Snowpack: I traveled around in the afternoon to catch peak warming on easterly and southerly slopes. Below treeline surface crusts lost strength just after noon and I found up to a foot of wet cohesionless snow below. The snowpack strength ramps up not much below the wet snow which leaves a foot or more of wet snow on low elevation sunny slopes for loose snow avalanches to entrainment. Near treeline on an easterly slope , wet snow was limited to the top few inches making for easy, small loose avalanches. Meltwater had drained down to and was oozing through the first crust encounter beneath the dusty crust near the surface. An above treeline a southeast slope was only moist/barely wet in the top few inches. I was able to produce roller balls here, but do not think it was a Wet Loose avalanche problem yet; light winds and modest temps kept alpine sunny slopes in this area from becoming a problem.
There was a dramatic difference between water production on terrain with dirt at or very near the surface versus slopes with 6 inches or more of white snow.

Photos:

6213

Apr. 09, 2023

Wet snow obs and more recent cornice falls

Date of Observation: 04/09/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour this morning on Purple Peak, traveling on southerly an northeast aspects up to 12,800′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Two new alpine cornice falls since I was last in this area on the afternoon of 4/7 (D1.5 and D3) and a recent glide avalanche off of rocks on West Beckwith (D1.5)
Weather: Mid-level clouds passed overhead a few times but still lots of solar input. Light winds.
Snowpack: High northerly aspects held dry, stable powder. Surfaces were well-frozen this morning at all elevations. By 11:30 a.m., rollerballs and pinwheels started coming off of rock bands on east aspects NTL as the top few inches got wet. Good corn skiing at that time on southeast NTL. Above treeline south has only seen meltwater go a few inches deep during the last few days. On below treeline south, there were timber sled tracks sinking in about 10″.

Photos:

6212

Apr. 09, 2023

Large Gibson Ridge Wet Slab

Date of Observation: 04/09/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: seen in person from Hidden Mine Gate at base of Whetstone

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small point release opened up to very large full snowpack wetslab on an East aspect of Gibson Ridge. A moment before I noticed how much dust was on this due-east slope. This slid at 1220pm Sunday.
Weather: Sunny. Hot.
Snowpack: Dusty. Hot.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
6210

Apr. 08, 2023

Pre-meltdown look around

Date of Observation: 04/08/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch to Mount Baldy’s sunny side.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Decent views into the Ruby Range did not reveal any new cornice falls.
Weather: Increasing cloudiness late morning turned to sporadic snow showers midday. Mild temperatures and moderate SW wind in the afternoon at ridgetop.
Snowpack: Cloudiness limited the Wet Loose avalanche concerns in the area I traveled. Surface crusts softened but didn’t break down during the day. I dug a couple of test profiles looking at east and southeast features – the snowpack generally looks strong in the upper snowpack given the number of crusts and ice columns from recent warm weather. Faceting above a late March crust, on two different slopes (E and SE), appears to be a potential failure plane if flooded by meltwater. Northeasterly slopes below treeline have several soft crusts, with dry snow between, in the upper 18 inches of the snowpack that could be available for entrainment once the water production resumes in the coming days.

Photos:

6209

Apr. 08, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary March 24-30, 2023

This week’s snowpack summary is here.  The week brought a potent wind event with modest storm totals, a prominent dust layer, and more large cornice falls.

Apr. 07, 2023

Wet slide anthracites

Date of Observation: 04/06/2023
Name: Emma Vosburg

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracites playground

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: South facing wet slide in the playground behind the anthracites. Human triggered slide on the dust/crust layer.
Started small and picked up speed to the bottom of the slope ~ 300ft down
Weather: 4/6. 2:30pm. 30 degrees no wind blue skies

Photos:

6208

Apr. 07, 2023

More cornice falls and wet loosies

Date of Observation: 04/07/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Scarp Ridge to Peeler Peak and out OBJ basin, traveling on various aspects to 12,200′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several more large cornice falls that ran sometime in the past couple of days. An uptick in small wet loose activity today, generally on the southern half of the compass at higher elevations and the most action below treeline on east to northeast aspects. We skier triggered a couple of small wet loose slides on northeast aspects below treeline.
Weather: Warm, clear all morning with cloud cover increasing this afternoon.
Snowpack: About 6″ of settled storm snow over the dusty storm interface. The snow became wet on all but NE to NW aspects N/ATL and due north BTL. A pit on a SE aspect NTL in Peeler Basin produced propagating results about 2 feet deep down on the 3/30 interface, a faceted crust. There are several crusts in the upper 3 feet of the snowpack that could pose a concern for wet slab issues if we see a rapid influx of meltwater next week. Currently only the recent storm snow is wet and the 4/3 crust remained frozen except for low elevation southerlies.

Photos:

6207

Apr. 07, 2023

Cornice fall and roller balls

Date of Observation: 04/07/2023
Name: Sam Lesnikoski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Up over daisy pass, ascended the saddle between Richmond and Hancock to Hancock summit, back over daisy to baxter

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Cornice fall and associated shallow slab on Hancock/Richmond saddle, ran yesterday? Small skier triggered wet sluffs on lower, more easterly facing Hancock benches. Innumerable natural wet slides and sluffs running on dust, all fairly small.
Weather: Sunny and hot with increasing cloud cover by afternoon
Snowpack: Dry and pleasant snow on high northerlies, anything with a bit of east in it was wet by around 11.

Photos:

6206

Apr. 06, 2023

More naturals from the last storm in the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 04/06/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mineral Point

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several D1 to D2 wind slabs ran during the storm, some related to cornice fall. See photos and details below.

Photos:

6205

Apr. 06, 2023

Fresh cornice falls, sluffing, and some recent wind slabs in the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 04/06/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on various aspects on Mineral Point and Cascade to 12,500′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous small dry loose avalanches ran today on northerly terrain, and we ski-triggered more of the same (D1). A couple small wet loose ran on an E/SE aspect BTL of Cascade (D1). Several large cornice falls failed sometime since the storm ended, past 48 hours (D2). Several D1 to D2 wind slabs ran during the storm, some related to cornice fall. See photos and details below, the storm-related avalanches are coded in a separate ob.
Weather: Clear skies, calm winds, cold temps near zero this morning rising to 20F at 12k midday.
Snowpack: There’s about a foot of fairly dense storm snow near and above treeline in the Ruby Range with signs of previous drifting. The snow appears to be bonding well to the storm interface, based on targeted feedback from numerous steep test features. We got some shallow cracking a few inches deep from the most recent drifting. The snow stayed dry on northerlies, got a little moist on easterlies, and just the surface got wet on southerlies. The dust is resurfacing on low-elevation southerlies near town.

Photos:

6204

Apr. 06, 2023

Mostly strong and quite supportive snowpack in the shallower parts of the Elks

Date of Observation: 04/05/2023
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek to Hunter Creek to Star Pass

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One small cornice-triggered D1 slab in the Timbered Hill Chutes, which looked like it ran Sunday at the end of the last warm-up. The cornice chunks and debris gouged like the snow was wet a the time.
Weather: Broken skies, flat light, cold temperatures, and nearly calm westerly winds.
Snowpack: Below treeline, the snowpack on all aspects has undergone 4 melt-freeze cycles in the last month (2x in early March, the beginning of the March 20 storm, and late March warm-up). These crusts had water percolate between them repeatedly, making for a very stout upper snowpack structure now. Even at the upper elevations of this elevation band on shady slopes where thin crusts formed, we found no weak layers of concern.

6203

Apr. 05, 2023

Mostly quiet on Axtell

Date of Observation: 04/05/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Axtell, traveled mostly on N to E aspects to 11,900′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered and observed a few natural loose avalanches, small in size (D1). Ski cut a small wind slab about 6′ wide, 12″ deep on a crossdrifted north facing slope NTL (D1). There was a thin natural windslab below ridgeline in 4th Bowl, about 4″ deep.
Weather: Partly to mostly cloudy with a few afternoon flurries (S-1). Light winds, no transport.
Snowpack: About 4″ to 5″ of storm snow, delineated by a prominent dust layer near the bottom of the storm. I found a few drifts up to a foot thick in typical locations; ski cuts and stomps were unproductive except one small pocket. It seems most of the wind transport here happened early in the storm before there was much snow available for transport. The last few inches of snow were relatively unaffected by wind and also concealed some of the previous drifting textures.

Photos:

6201

Apr. 05, 2023

From Dust to Dust (Go Back to the Desert)…

Date of Observation: 04/05/2023
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch TH; W & E sides of Snodgrass; 9,400-11,000 ft mostly SW & NE aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Snowpack: Fresh dust on a red, dusty crust; with the first dust mentioned quickly turning to mush. Tomorrow I must venture to Saleeda to tread lightly on red, dusty dust.

This riddle, or is it a poem, was inspired by all the bad (good) riddles of Ted Lasso (I have been binge watching) and to a lesser degree by yesterday’s historic indictment of our illustrious/notorious (depending on your persuasion) Donald J Trump :)

OK, for real, sunny aspects were supportive to skis (dust on crust as described above), while the more northerly aspects were dry & soft.

Photos:

6200

Apr. 05, 2023

Dust

Date of Observation: 04/04/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Pass to Scarp Ridge on snowmobile and ski tour around the Anthracites.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Visibility was poor much of the day, but I could see storm snow debris on a drifted easterly slope near treeline at the top of the Playground in the Anthracites. This feature has a large fetch for gathering snow.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with consistent light snow with a few short periods of S2. Storm total of 6 inches around 4pm at 11,000 feet. Moderate wind speeds on near treeline ridgeline.  It is hard to miss the dust at the base of the storm snow, yuck.
Snowpack: Crusts at the old snow surface, just over 11,000 feet, were 3-4cm on southeast slopes, 2cm on east terrain, and thinned away as you move into northeast aspects. North-facing slopes in this area remain fully dry and provided nice turns. I was able to produce a few shooting cracks on drifted near treeline features, but fetches were relatively small so wind slab formation was only a few inches thick.

Photos:

6198

Apr. 03, 2023

THC post warm up

Date of Observation: 04/03/2023
Name: Jack Caprio

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Skied down east brush creek from Friends Hut on 4/3

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One notable slab avalanche that ran later in the day on 4/2 during the warm up. The avalanche occurred on an ESE slope below treeline in the Timbered Hill Chutes. The crown was at 11,400’ on the shoulder of the 2nd THC path downstream from the Friends Hut. The avalanche looked to step down through the 3/30 interface into deeper March interfaces.

There was also plenty of remnants of wet loose activity on death pass. Roller balls and cinnamon rolls galore.
Weather: Cloudy and windy.
Snowpack: The super highway was nice and fast

Photos:

6196

Apr. 03, 2023

Wind slabs near Star Pass

Date of Observation: 04/02/2023
Name: Megan Paden

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Star Pass area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A couple of fresh wind slabs on east side of Crystal and Hunter.
Cornice drop on Star.
No large persistent slabs observed in this area.
One wet loose on an easterly slope near Italian.

 

Photos:

6195

Apr. 02, 2023

More large avalanches from yesterday’s warmup or overnight winds

Date of Observation: 04/02/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Morning tour on Mt. Emmons, traveling on southerly and northerly aspects to 12,000′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several notable large avalanches that ran sometime since Evan was on Mt. Emmons yesterday morning. These likely ran during Saturday afternoon’s peak warming, or the cornice falls could have happened overnight. Plus a few older wind slabs that likely ran during Friday’s storm.
-A second cornice fall in Redwell Basin, extending dirty debris further than the slide in the same area that Evan documented yesterday, and prying out a couple of slabs in the upper snowpack, ~D2.5 to D3 in size.
-Several wide D2 to D2.5 storm slabs that ran on the southwest side of Schuylkill Ridge to valley floor in OBJ, snapping several trees.
-A large wind slab in Peeler Basin that was triggered by cornice fall, D2.
Weather: Strong winds above treeline and moderate winds below treeline were helping to keep snow surfaces cool today. Winds appeared to be sublimating the drifting snow  more than loading. Few clouds. Spring temps.
Snowpack: Skied steep, north-facing terrain with no signs of instability. On solar aspects, crusts started to soften around 11 or noon. I didn’t see any active rollerballs or wet loose activity by the time we left at 1 p.m. I stomped around above a wind-loaded east-facing slope midday and couldn’t produce any signs of instability.

Photos:

6194

Apr. 02, 2023

A Few More Cornice Avalanches in the SE Mountains

Date of Observation: 04/02/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: SE Mountain FX area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 4 cornice avalanches that failed since Friday. 2 above Copper Creek on a SE aspect at 12,000ft. Another 2 in the Hidden Lake Bowl of Mt Whetstone on a northerly facing slope at 12,200ft. The Hidden Lake Bowl cornices may be repeat offenders similar to those that keep falling into Redwell.

Photos:

6193

Apr. 02, 2023

Slate River to Cascade

Date of Observation: 04/02/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River to Cascade

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The natural loose wet avalanche activity has remained fairly minimal, with fewer small loose wet avalanches and more roller balls.

Got a closer look at the natural slab avalanche, that ran late Saturday afternoon, above the Slate River Rd. This avalanche ran on a SW aspect at 10,800ft. The best guess is that this was a natural storm slab avalanche that failed during the rapid warming event that occurred on Saturday. The slab looked to have run on the old snow interface. Near the avalanche debris, the top 10 cm of the snowpack had become wet and the remaining storm snow below was dry.

Weather: Partly Cloudy, Light to moderate winds with blowing snow off the high peaks.

Snowpack: The wind was penetrating to valley level and helping keep snow surfaces somewhat cool. Loose wet avalanches appeared to be more problematic yesterday. The wind in the alpine looked like it was doing more eroding than actual wind-loading.

Photos:

6192

Apr. 02, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary March 24-30, 2023

The weekly summary is here. Spring continued to be on hold at the start of the week as a series of storms rolled through the valley. Warming temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday initiated wet loose avalanches, some of which triggered larger persistent slabs.

Weekly Summary March 24-30, 2023 COMPRESSED
Apr. 01, 2023

Very large slide off of West Beckwith

Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Insta Gram

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: West Beckwith

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Slab avalanche that broke deeply on a crossloaded S to SE facing slope either today or yesterday.

Photos:

6189

Apr. 01, 2023

Hot Storm Slab

Date of Observation: 04/01/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: This avalanche ran late on 4/1. Natural or a remote trigger.

Photos:

6188

Apr. 01, 2023

Yesterday’s powder, tranistioned to Apirl Mayonnaise.

Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt Emmons. Redwell Tour.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A wide propagating slab on an easterly aspect into Redwell Basin. 11,600ft. D2. Avalanche debris looked soft so I’d estimate it ran yesterday during the storm.

A fresh cornice fell in redwell basin, probably ran this morning or at the end of the storm. D2.

A fresh cornice fell in the Climax Chutes, probably ran this morning or at the end of the storm. D1.5

Roller balls and some small loose wet avalanches around the solar half of the compass.

Weather: Clear sky, rising temps. Calm winds down low and light winds in the alpine.

Snowpack: At 10,800ft on the South side of Mt Emmons the recent HST was 35cm. We climbed the south side of Mt Emmons while the snow was just warming, then skied dry snow of the West and north sides. By the time we hit OBJ and changed both aspects and elevation the snow surface was wet. This tour was for good snow and avoided the avalanche problems.

Photos:

6186

Apr. 01, 2023

Naturals in the SE Mtns

Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several D2 wind slabs on Avery and Gothic that ran yesterday. Numerous small wet loose today (D1s). And of course the very large persistent slab off of Gothic, which triggered an additional persistent slab crown below the cliff band.
Weather: Clear skies, mild temps, occasional light drifting near wind exposed summits.

Photos:

6185

Apr. 01, 2023

Naturals in the NW Mtns

Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A large persistent slab (D2.5) on a shallow, east-facing slope on East Beckwith looks like it ran yesterday. Several wind slabs D1-D2, mostly yesterday, one today. A large cornice fall today (D2). Numerous small wet loose today (D1s).
Weather: Clear skies, mild temps, occasional light drifting near wind exposed summits.

Photos:

6184

Apr. 01, 2023

Small windslab on Gothic

Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: A couple of laps at Coney’s via a semi-standard route. 9,600-10,800 feet, ENE aspect.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D1 wind slab in steep, cross-loaded WSW terrain on Gothic that looked pretty fresh.
Weather: Clear and calm. Temps in the teens at 9AM, quickly climbing to tropical by 11AM.
Snowpack: 6-8″ new snow. Cold and dry at the start, but rapidly transforming to wet and sticky in a couple of hours.

Photos:

6183

Apr. 01, 2023

Very large avalanche off Gothic

Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Travis Guy and billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Very large persistent slab on the east face of Gothic. Slide ran after 4 p.m. yesterday.  It did not reach the county road anywhere but did hit an RMBL cabin though right at the end of a side shoot off the main run. so it looks like it may be OK.  But it’s buried so who knows.
Photos:

6182

Apr. 01, 2023

Gothic weather

Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Light to moderate snow Friday morning with light afternoon snow and steady wind with strong gusts as it remained cloudy all day. Wind slowed after dark, becoming light just before sunrise with gradual clearing after midnight. Total new 24 hour snowfall was 5½” new with water 0.38″. Snowpack reached 95½” (a record depth for March 31) and now sits at 94½” with a partly cloudy sky and just a light breeze. March ended with 102½” snowfall with water of 9.24″- 4th most snow in a March and second most water content since 1975. And just think- we were all here to shovel through it.

6181

Mar. 31, 2023

Deep storm totals and lots of wind in the Slate

Date of Observation: 03/31/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Baxter Basin area; traveled on North to East to Southeast aspects to about 11,000′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Ski triggered a 10″ wind slab on a small test slope. Visibility was too poor to see most avalanche terrain.
Weather: Moderate to heavy snowfall. Strong, variable winds. They were initially blowing down the basin (out of the west) and then switched to blowing up the basin (out of the north). Periods of intense wind drifting.
Snowpack: Valley floor storm totals ranged from about 10″ at the Slate TH to 20″ in Poverty Gulch. In wind-sheltered terrain, the snow was fairly low density and cohesionless, and sluffed in steep terrain. The snow got noticeably thicker and denser in wind-affected terrain. Drifts were up to 3 feet thick in some areas, and other areas were scoured down to yesterday’s crust. I got a mix of shooting cracks and nothing on steep drifted features. Cracks were up to 30′ long.

Photos:

6179

Mar. 31, 2023

East River area and small skier triggered avalanche on drifted BTL slope

Date of Observation: 03/30/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Traveled above the East River just up valley from the confluence with Brush Creek.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One slab avalanche that ran in the upper snowpack that likely failed during warming a few days ago on low elevation east slope. Intentionally triggered a Windslab on a small northwest-facing slope near valley bottom, this feature has an abnormally huge fetch. Wind Slab was resting above 1mm facets above a crust.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with moderate winds through 2pm. Snowfall and strong SSW winds started around 3pm.
Snowpack: HS through this low-elevation terrain typically ranged from 90 to 120cm outside of drifted terrain. A quick profile on a south-southeast slope at 9,100 feet showed a strong structure with ice columns to the ground which indicated meltwater has made its way through the entire snowpack (this strong structure is not common throughout the greater forecast area). A profile into the bed surface of the intentionally trigger slide, on a drifted northwest slope, showed a 10″ thick crust/ice column matrix resting about 2 feet of depth hoar. Surface conditions on northerly features were a thin melt/freeze crust with 6 inches of faceted snow below.

Photos:

6178

Mar. 30, 2023

More faceted crusts

Date of Observation: 03/30/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Axtell 2nd Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Clouds increased mid-morning, as did winds. Drifting off of the high peaks.
Snowpack: No signs of instability skiing steep northerly terrain below treeline.
Thin (2-3cm) breakable (1F- to 4F-) crusts span east to due northeast (45 degrees) in steep terrain. This storm interface doesn’t look as bad as the 3/20 interface, but I don’t expect new snow to bond well to these crusts. There is a thin layer of small-grained (~.5mm) near surface facets above the crust. This layer gets thicker (up to 5 mm thick) moving towards northeast, while the crust gets softer and thinner. Anything north of 45 degrees held dry, settled powder with minor surface faceting (~.3mm) and minimal sluffing.

Photos:

6177

Mar. 29, 2023

Warming surface snow below treeline and recent avalanche activity

Date of Observation: 03/29/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Evans Basin on Mount Emmons and Kebler Pass/Ohio Pass corridor.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few small loose avalanches from warming today. Two loose avalanches triggered slabs on east aspects. One older avalanche likely failed during Monday’s storm that initially failed in storm snow and then stepped down two more feet; this avalanche snapped on small tree in the runout (D2.5).
Weather: Increasing clouds in the morning that were mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Temps reached close to 40 degrees below treeline. Light winds at low elevations, no snow transport was observed above treeline in the areas I traveled.
Snowpack: I took a look at the impact of yesterday’s and today’s warming on the snowpack on the south half of the compass. In general, I found crusts 1.5 – 3 cm thick (up to 1.25 inchs). I did not find liquid water draining into the snowpack much below the surface. Crusts on some steep sunny slopes might be supportive to skis tomorrow, but I suspect slightly breakable. I observed several snowbike tracks on steep sunny below treeline slopes that did not produce avalanche activity.

Photos:

6176

Mar. 29, 2023

More naturals in the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 03/29/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ruby Range, viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A couple of large cornice falls (Owen and Scarp Ridge), a handful of small wet loose on S-E aspects A/NTL, and a hot wind slab. These are new since I put binos on the same terrain yesterday around 11 a.m.
Weather: Clouds increased mid-day. Above freezing temps.

Photos:

6175

Mar. 29, 2023

Perry Creek brown stain 💩

Date of Observation: 03/29/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Perry Creek, viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Destructive natural persistent slab, S-SE aspect above Perry Creek, ran to the ground shortly below start zone. Turner spotted this one fresh yesterday afternoon.

Photos:

6174

Mar. 28, 2023

Older naturals from Southeast Mountains

Date of Observation: 03/28/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Hunter Hill and Carbonate Hill

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Documenting avalanche activity from last week.

Photos:

6172

Mar. 28, 2023

Wide crown on Teo Ridge!😳 And triggered wind slabs.

Date of Observation: 03/28/2023
Name: Zach Guy and Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek, Hunter Hill, Star Pass, and Carbonate Hill. Various aspects to 13,000′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: An impressively wide persistent slab avalanche across the E/NE side of Teo Ridge looks fresh in the past 48 hours, 2300′ wide on Google Earth. Snowmobile triggered a couple of 2′ wind slabs above treeline, one remotely, one with a slope cut, and there were a few recent natural wind slabs. Documenting older avalanches from the past week in a separate ob.
Weather: Clear to few clouds, below freezing temps in the alpine. Light winds with transport on a few terrain features.
Snowpack: Recent wind slab formation was localized to terrain features with large fetches for northwest winds; they were sensitive to slope cuts on the 3/24 crust, which looks lightly faceted. No signs of deeper instabilities under the sled today. A pit on an east aspect near treeline produced non-propagating failure on the 3/20 faceted crust under a 55cm soft slab. Snow surfaces stayed cool enough to keep wet loose activity at bay; the only wet loose activity I saw was in the steep, cliffy terrain around Mt. CB this afternoon.

Photos:

6171

Mar. 28, 2023

Fresh persistent slabs and wind slabs in the NW Mtns.

Date of Observation: 03/28/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Carbonate Hill and Slate River Road.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Large persistent slab (D2.5) on the SE side of Schuylkill Ridge ran this afternoon during the warmup. A handful of D1-D2 wind slabs in the Ruby Range that likely ran yesterday or overnight. A slab on East Beckwith (NE ATL) broke near the ground on a steep, shallow, rocky slope, sometime in the past 48 hours.

Photos:

6170

Mar. 28, 2023

Fresh wind slabs in the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 03/28/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several fresh wind slabs above treeline, new since yesterday afternoon. Likely ran overnight.

Photos:

6169

Mar. 28, 2023

Anthracite Mesa

Date of Observation: 03/27/2023
Name: Jaime Odin

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Ascended/descended the south east shoulder of anthracite mesa to 10,400 ft

Observed avalanche activity: No
Snowpack: 1-2 ft of weak new snow present throughout the tour, with a mostly supportable crust underneath, except for in sheltered terrain, especially in dense timber. Average ski penetration ~30cm boot penetration ~60cm. At 10,400 ft on an open SE aspect 10 degree slope the surface height was 240cm. Underneath the top 25cm of new snow was an easily breakable crust with ~60cm of weak, faceted snow beneath. Another crust was beneath the facets but I did not dig under this second crust which was ~80cm beneath the surface. Pulling on an isolated column with a shovel easily broke a slab of the new snow at the first crust/facet interface, instilling little confidence in the current snow structure.

Photos:

6168

Mar. 27, 2023

Pit results from the Slate and a wind slab.

Date of Observation: 03/27/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate, Purple Palace area to 11,000′, traveling on easterly aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Snowmobile cut an 18″ wind slab on Slate cut bank feature that catches efficient downvalley drifting. The slab failed on the 3/24 crust on a south aspect BTL.
Weather: Overcast, S-1 to S1 snowfall with an inch or two of accumulation today. Light northwest winds and light transport below treeline. Still coooold.
Snowpack: Dug several pits within a few hundred feet of each other on SE, E, and NE aspects below treeline. I got a mix of hard propagating and non-propagating results at the 3/20 interface. The east facing pit, which I dug just above an old crown, had the weakest looking structure and was the only pit that consistently produced unstable results. I did get one propagating result on northeast as well, but it was on an old graupel layer about 25 cm below the 3/15 crust, and the result was not repeatable.
No signs of instability while breaking trail.
There is about 10-12″ of dry recent storm snow above the 3/24 crust on southerlies in Upper Slate, and 4″ to 6″ above the crust closer to the trailhead. On easterlies, the snowpack has remained dry down to the 3/20 crust, 30″ deep. The upper foot or so is fist hard but dense enough that it isn’t dry sluffing.

Photos:

6167

Mar. 27, 2023

Recent large avalanches in Red Lady and Whetstone

Date of Observation: 03/27/2023
Name: Eric Murow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: HWY 135 observations

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Large avalanche ran in Red Lady Bowl – I would suspect it ran today while wind-loaded. Large natural avalanche on the easterly side of M-Face on Whestone. This avalanche appeared to break fairly deep with rocks exposed; this feature is unsupported from below.
Weather: I observed moderate wind-loading above treeline onto easterly aspects.
Snowpack:

Photos:

6166

Mar. 27, 2023

Gothic Weather

Date of Observation: 03/27/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Second verse, same as the first. Obscured cloud cover with light, dense snowfall, most in the past 24 hours coming between sunset and around 2 a.m. with 3½” new snow and water 0.34″. The snowpack is back at 94½”. Light wind with some gusting and cool with the high 21, low 4 and the current 5.

6164

Mar. 26, 2023

Recent large natural near Skykill Mtn

Date of Observation: 03/26/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Pittsburg to 11,600′ saddle between Schuylkill Ridge and Schuylkill Mtn, traveling mostly on north and northeast aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A large (D2.5) debris pile off the north side of Schuylkill Ridge appeared to run Friday night or Saturday, based on minimal fresh snow on the debris. We traced the lookers right side of the debris lobe, which knocked over a few small trees. The combination of flat light and recent drifting near ridgetop made it difficult to make out the crown.
Weather: Unseasonably cold. Light winds. Very light snowfall and overcast most of the day.
Snowpack: About 6″ of recent snow from Friday night, with notable wind affect near treeline. No signs of instability underfoot except for some minor cracking about 8″ deep in drifted terrain. Stability tests on both north and southeast aspects near treeline produced hard, non-propagating results on the 3/20 interface, which is small, rounding facets buried about 60 cm deep.

Photos:

6163

Mar. 26, 2023

Small Skier Triggered Avalanche

Date of Observation: 03/25/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small skier-triggered avalanche. NE.9,400ft.

Photos:

6162

Mar. 26, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary March 17-23, 2023

The weekly summary is here. The previous weekend’s mild weather gave way to a week full of storms. Total snowfall for most areas was over 20″ by the weekend. Avalanche activity for the week was characterized by widespread storm slab action, a natural cycle that produced several large avalanches, and one of the biggest remotely triggered avalanches of the season on Baldy.

 

Weekly Summary March 17-23, 2023 (1) COMPRESSED
Mar. 25, 2023

Remotely triggered 3 very large avalanches

Date of Observation: 03/25/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracite Range. NW Mountains.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We remote triggered at least 3 very large avalanches on southeast to south-facing terrain above the Beaver Ponds. We were choosing to ski northerly-facing terrain, but while skiing down the ridge to a second lap on the back of the ridge, we felt a collapse, and watched three very large (D3) avalanches run to near their vegetative trim lines.

Weather: Cold, mostly cloudy, breezy. We did not see much snow transport during the day, but it looked like snow drifted overnight.

Photos:

6161

Mar. 25, 2023

Couple More Remote Triggers

Date of Observation: 03/25/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Brush Creek out to Teo

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: East, 9,700ft. Remotely triggered a small avalanche from a couple of hundred feet away. This was a wind-loaded terrain feature and a lot of the feather isn’t steep enough to avalanche. The crown is estimated to be 60 to 70cm thick. I didn’t get to check the crown.

East, 10,100ft. Remotely triggered a D1.5 from 15 feet away. The avalanche propagated above and into steeper terrain. The slab was 65cm thick and around 280 feet across. The weak layer was the 3/20 crust collapsing into the 3/15 crust. The average slope angle of the bed surface was 40+ degrees.

Weather: Obscured with poor visibility. Light to moderate winds at lower elevations. I wore 2 down coats and a shell, must be getting soft.

Snowpack: Hunting some obvious signs of instability and they were somewhat hard to find. In general, the faceted crusts in the upper snowpack were similar to those in the NW Mountain forecast area. On some occasions, I got results with last week’s storm snow failing on the 3/20 crust, and in others, the 3/20 crust was collapsing into the 3/15 crust. I only got two notable collapses while traveling through the terrain. HST since yesterday was 4″. Visibility was poor, but what below treeline terrain I could see didn’t have a notable natural avalanche cycle last week.

Photos:

6160

Mar. 25, 2023

Collapses

Date of Observation: 03/25/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: South of forecast area
Route Description: Rec tour, Spring Creek area. SE to NE aspects BTL

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A recent persistent slab on a west facing slope BTL.
Weather: Mostly cloudy, very light snow. Unseasonably cold. Moderate winds in exposed terrain.
Snowpack: Snowdepth was around 100 to 130 cm. We got a couple of large collapses that appeared to fail mid pack, below about 60 cm of slab-forming snow that has fallen in March. The weak layer was facets (F) with one or multiple crusts above. These were on low angle southeast slopes; more representative of what I would expect to find on steep east.

Photos:

6159

Mar. 25, 2023

Gothic 7am weather update

Date of Observation: 03/25/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Moderate to heavy snow after dark stopping around midnight with 6″ new and water 0.54″. The snowpack is at 95″ deep, just below the winter’s deepest of 97″ but the past 4 days have been the deepest snowpack on record for these dates. A steady 4-8 mph west wind with gusting to 15 as temperature slowly drops. After a high yesterday of 32 it is currently the days low of 3 with a cloudy sky (now and for forever it seems).

6157

Mar. 24, 2023

Slate River Crown Investigation 🕵️

Date of Observation: 03/24/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River. Variety of aspects. Mostly stayed within 500 hundred feet of the valley floor.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Many of the avalanches in the Slate and upper Slate have already been documented. I targeted specifics on those weak layers and that info is below. Avalanches on easterly aspects had the largest propagation and the most number of avalanches. However Northerly and westerly aspects had their share. The crowns in the alpine appear to be drifted back over or not visible with the recent weather.

I remotely triggered one large slab avalanche from a few hundred feet away, while traveling on a low-angled slope below. The avalanche ran on a west-facing aspect at 9,700ft. Later that day I found a D1 natural that ran today on another West aspect. These avalanches appeared to run on top of the 3/20 crust.

The NE to E Happy Chutes and Climax chutes had a handful of D1.5 to D2 slab avalanches from the last storm. The crowns were most commonly on the steep 40 to 40+ degree rollers in the terrain.

Weather: Calm to light wind in the valleys. Notable blowing snow off the high peaks in the later afternoon. Mostly cloudy and warm.

Snowpack: I targeted several old avalanche crowns to get a better sense of whether the recent avalanche cycle was breaking in non-persistent storm snow or the well-documented persistent weak layers in the upper snowpack. In each crown I checked out, the avalanche had broken on or below the 3/20 interface, before using the 3/15 interface as a bed surface.

On Easterly facing slopes, the 3/20 interface is a collapsible crust about 1cm to 3cm thick, and the avalanche activity on these aspects had propagated widely across the terrain. The 3/15 interface just made for a nice bed surface on all these avalanches. The crown heights were typically 45 to 65cm.

Where the 3/20 interface was NSF, on northerly facing slopes, the avalanches didn’t propagate as wide.

On westerly aspects, the upper snowpack structure is similar to that found on east aspects. I targeted one test pit on a west aspect 10,500ft, and got an ECTP 23 result on the 3/20 interface. Later I got the remotely triggered avalanche on another west aspect and saw the small nature on another west aspect.

I didn’t observe any obvious signs of instability. The upper slab has settled and gained strength.

Photos:

6156

Mar. 24, 2023

Cement Mtn Slide

Date of Observation: 03/24/2023
Name: Cosmo Langsfeld

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek Rd

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Fresh looking slide on Cement Mtn north bowl. NE-ish aspect, maybe some of the E facing terrain as well. Looks like it began in wind loaded terrain up high and stepped down into a deeper layer part way down the path. Spotted Friday morning.
Weather: Partly cloudy.
Snowpack:

Photos:

6155

Mar. 24, 2023

Large Remote Trigger on Emmons

Date of Observation: 03/24/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Glades

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Remote triggered this repeat offender D2.5 from 50m away on ridge at about 12pm. Crown estimated to be 70m x 40cm. Failed at storm interface on 2mm facets resting on 2.5cm crust.
Weather: Sun, clouds & flurries. Light winds ATL.
Snowpack: Hand shear of crown “cash registered” as I was most of the way through cutting the block.

Photos:

6154

Mar. 24, 2023

Ankle Biters in Cement Creek

Date of Observation: 03/23/2023
Name: Sam Strait

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobile tour up Cement Creek Road and in terrain adjacent to road

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 2x small (D1) naturals on W aspect @10,400

Weather: Mostly cloudy with brief periods of sun

6153

Mar. 24, 2023

Upper Slate avalanche obs

Date of Observation: 03/23/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: View from Elkton Knob.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Obvious natural cycle on Wednesday 3/22. Numerous avalanches broke near the storm interface on easterly aspects below treeline on Purple Ridge and Schuylkill Ridge near Pittsburg. Many of the easterly avalanches appeared to run late on 3/22. Looking at the up valley end of Schuylkill Ridge there was lots of evidence of avalanches running earlier in the storm but visibility was poor and I wouldn’t see crowns and debris was difficult to read. Atleast one avalanche near the last forested area before the Great Wide Open reportedly ran early Thursday morning. I never really got a good view of Scarp Ridge or the spine of the Ruby Range; I suspect there is more natural activity I was unable to see.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with periodic light snowfall obscured views.
Snowpack:

Photos:

6152

Mar. 24, 2023

Naturals on Whetstone and Emmons

Date of Observation: 03/23/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: HWY 135 observations.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more unreported slides on Whetstone and Mount Emmons that appear to break only in the recent storm snow.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6151

Mar. 23, 2023

Ruby natural avalanche – submitted via email

Date of Observation: 03/23/2023
Name: Dave Kozlowski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ruby Peak

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: natural avalanche on Ruby Peak.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6150

Mar. 23, 2023

Thick Storm Slabs

Date of Observation: 03/23/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch TH to Elkton Knob area.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I will put most avalanche coding and photos in another ob. No natural avalanche activity near TH. View from the top of Elkton Knob was marginal but buffed debris was visible (few crowns) all over the alpine terrain in the Northwest Mountains and covered many aspects; this drifted over natural activity involved storm snow only. Once on top of Elkton Knob there were a lot of widely-propagating crowns visible in the Upper Slate corridor near Pittsburg and on Purple Ridge below treeline. Easterly aspects seemed to be the bullseye below treeline. HIGH danger occurred at all elevations on Wednesday in the Northwest Mountains.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with periodic snow showers; no accumulations. Temperatures were seasonally cool, but solar radiation was enough to moisten snow surfaces on sunny aspects. Winds remained light with some moderate gusting up to 11,200. I saw a few periods of blowing snow across the highest terrain during the day. Settled storm totals up to 32″ at 11,000 feet.
Snowpack: The recent storm snow was thick and supportive to skis on all aspects with ski penetration around 7 to 10 inches. I experienced a few muffled collapses that did not travel far. Periodic sunshine moistened snow surfaces on E-S-W slopes below 11,000 feet but failed to warm enough to make loose avalanches an issue. Snowpack tests on easterly slopes produced moderate propagating results (see image) above the melt/freeze crust at the new/old interface. I traveled near several pieces of avalanche terrain trying to get a remote trigger without result; the storm slab is far too supportive and thick to consider ski cutting anything so I kept a safe distance from steep terrain. A profile on a northerly slope did not produce propagating results on the faceted new/old interface (1-1.5mm facets); I was fairly surprised by this given how weak this interface is.

Photos:

6149

Mar. 23, 2023

Gothic 7am weather

Date of Observation: 03/23/2023
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Heavy snowfall Wednesday morning but only light in the afternoon and evening, stopping by midnight. The 24 hour total was 10″ new, with 0.88″ of water content. Wind became off and on, generally moderate with gusting but let up towards sunrise today. Snowpack reached 97″ deep- the deepest on record for March 22. Currently cloudy but calm and not snowing. The 24 hour high was 33 and the low and current 13. Snowpack dropped all the way down to 96½” (at this rate we should hit bare ground by October). billy
Snowpack:

6147

Mar. 23, 2023

Naturals on Whetstone

Date of Observation: 03/23/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Observed from my kitchen window

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Overnight natural avalanche cycle on E aspects of Whetstone.
Weather: Clearing skies
Snowpack:

Photos:

6146

Mar. 23, 2023

Large Barcelona bowl natural

Date of Observation: 03/23/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Seen from 135. Crown wraps N-NW

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Yes
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
6145

Mar. 23, 2023

Irwin Guides cat-ski observations

Date of Observation: 03/22/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin cat-ski tenure.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several, SS-ASc-D1 storm slabs 8-14″ thick on W and S aspects. Party hats L SS-ASc-R2-D2-I. W aspect NTL 14-16″ X 100′ X 800′ Failed on the 3/20 MFC interface.
Weather:
Snowpack: We did not travel E aspects today due to visibility. In the AM storm slabs on W
aspects tittered between stubborn and reactive. 6-8″ storm slabs grew to 12-16″ as the day progressed with
isolated loaded areas up to 24″ thick. By the afternoon avg. crown heights were in the 12-14″ range and
trended towards very touchy with remote triggers up to 25′ away. S aspects reacted vary similar to W BTL/ NTL
today. All were failing on the 3/20 MFC interface. The MFC produced repeat offence avalanches in our tenure
as guides skied certain slopes after snow safety passes.

6144

Mar. 22, 2023

Easy to trigger avalanches on Snodgrass

Date of Observation: 03/22/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass TH up standard skinner with detours to nearby steep terrain features.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I remotely triggered two avalanches on a southeast-facing feature below treeline; slides ran on the melt/freeze crust at the storm interface in low density storm snow from the start of the storm. I ski-cut a large Storm Slab that broke on a mid-storm weak layer on an east aspect; as the avalanche ran it propagated wider and down to the storm interface. This avalanche may have collapsed the soft melt/freeze crust beneath the storm snow on east aspects.
Weather: Overcast skies with increasing winds during the day. Strong winds penetrated down to valley bottom during the afternoon. Storm totals ranged from 20-22 inches. From 1030 to 130 snowfall rates were commonly in the 1 to 2-inch-an-hour range. Visibility was obscured all day so I never got a view of the surrounding terrain.
Snowpack: Avalanches in the storm snow were very easy to trigger with some occurring remotely. Low-density snow from the start of the storm remains sensitive to human triggers in sheltered areas. South and southwest-facing slopes below treeline had thick melt/freeze crusts around 4 inches thick below the storm snow and did not appear to cause concern for collapsing. Southeast and east-facing slopes crusts were thinner and may pose a threat for triggered avalanches after issues in the storm snow settle out. I experienced one collapse on an east-facing slope and a nearby test profile suggests that the crust below the storm snow is near its breaking point. I initiated a Loose Dry avalanche down a north-facing slope that gathered a lot of mass, but surprisingly, it failed to release a slab (maybe this slope avalanches the day before). Faceted grains were obvious beneath the storm snow in a north-facing test profile but no propagating results.

Photos:

6143

Mar. 22, 2023

Gothic 7am Report

Date of Observation: 03/22/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Only very light snow off and on during the day yesterday (½”) but steady light to moderate overnight snow with total of 7½” new and water content 0.65″. The snowpack is at the winter’s deepest of 93″ which if this holds (or increases) by sunset (i have always kept my own records sunset to sunset) it will be the deepest on record for this date, by 2″ over 1980 but a far cry from the 117″ all time high. The wind picked up just after midnight and is steady 5-10 West with gusta to 20 and very warm as it reached 32F overnight. It is currently at 28 with moderate snow and moderate but gusting wind and no visibility.

I saw 1 foot fractures run yesterday from just that recent new snow so expect more of that today. I think the safest thing is to stay under the covers. Until June.

6141

Mar. 21, 2023

Small Storm Slabs

Date of Observation: 03/21/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Indy and Elk Basins. 9,000-12,000ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Many small storm slab avalanches at BTL and NTL elevations. Poor visibility ATL. Those avalanches failed last night or during the early AM hours. 40+ avalanches. All failing in 40+ degree terrain. There were fewer avalanches on due south-facing slopes and I didn’t see much for north-facing terrain. I didn’t notice any avalanche activity near the Kebler Road or on the lower northerly facing slopes of Mt Axtell.

Weather: Overcast. S-1. Calm wind.

Snowpack: HST averaged in the 25 to 35cm range. The storm slabs were failing just above the 3/20 crust in low-density storm snow and stellars. Hand pits still produced clean shears on the interface, but I otherwise didn’t observe any signs of instability on small test slopes. There was wind-affected snow at upper elevations, but I didn’t encounter any notable thick wind drifts and of course, also didn’t enter the most suspect terrain. On E-SE and W aspects The 3/20 crust was 2cm thick on average. There wasn’t enough load to start collapsing that crust into the weaker snow below. The crust on due south is thicker and stronger.

Photos:

6140

Mar. 21, 2023

Storm slab triggered at AMR

Date of Observation: 03/21/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour in the Anthracites, the usual stuff, avoided East Bowl.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Ski cut a storm slab in Ziggens. NE aspect BTL. The slab was 10″ thick and about 50′ wide, breaking on low density snow that fell earlier in the storm yesterday. Some small natural activity off the drifted feature on East Bowl.
Had some decent vis into the playground, Ruby Peak, Axtell, and Whetstone this morning and didn’t see any persistent slab activity.
Weather: S-1. Light ridgetop winds; signs of previous drifting near treeline.
Snowpack: 12″ of top heavy storm snow produced cracking up to 5′ long on test features, both on storm layers (northerly) and storm interface (southeast).
A quick pit on a wind-sheltered southeast aspect produced easy propagating results (ECTPV, ECTP9) in facets below the 3/20 crust. The crust was about 2-3cm thick, strong enough that I didn’t get any collapses on it while walking around on a few similar slopes. No results on the 3/10 crust here, and like elsewhere, the weak layer was not obvious. Probed around on a few NE facing slopes to verify the absence of the 3/10 crust…nothing on NE or ENE here.

Photos:

6139

Mar. 21, 2023

Natural Avalanche of Bellview

Date of Observation: 03/21/2023
Name: Travis Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: View from Gothic Research Meadow

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural avalanche on Bellview

Weather: Cold, high clouds, -14C in Gothic. Calm.

Photos:

6138

Mar. 20, 2023

Slate River

Date of Observation: 03/20/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Skykill Ridge, Near OBJ. 9,000ft to 11,300ft. NE-E-S

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: S-1 most of the afternoon. Starting to pick up in the later afternoon as we were headed out. Calm wind.

Snowpack: Great skiing on NE with some sluffing in steep terrain. The crusts at the old snow interface on East were breakable and not good skiing. Not enough snow yet, for any storm slab problems. The most notable weak layer was the 3/20 interface that was buried this morning. On E and SE it was about 2cm thick, collapsible into weak snow below, and ready to aid in propagation once there is enough load. On south, that crust was 6cm + thick and strong.

Targeted a test pit on a ENE slope at 9,700ft. Slope 34 degrees. HS 250cm. The 3/10 interface didn’t produce any ECT, CT or DT tests. The 3/15 crust and 3/20 NSF each produced ECTN results. The layer of concern at this location was the 3/20 NSF once there is a slab, and if something did step down to the 3/15 crust it wouldn’t be much deeper at this location.

6137

Mar. 20, 2023

Sluffy storm snow

Date of Observation: 03/20/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour, several northeast facing slopes BTL

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a loose dry avalanche that was large enough to push someone into a tree or terrain trap, entraining about 10″ of loose snow.
Weather: Snowfall rates alternated between light and moderate. Calm winds BTL.
Snowpack: About 6″ of pleasantly fluffy new snow by 4 p.m., on top of a low density, faceted interface. The upper 10″ or so sluffed easily on slopes steeper than about 38 degrees. No slab formation yet in the new snow, but once it does, there is a decent amount of snow for entrainment.

6136

Mar. 20, 2023

👑🕷

Date of Observation: 03/19/2023
Name: Lee Pownall

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: nacho, seldom seen, white widow, west whiterock, north white bench mark, red ridge over a couple days

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several nf shots in queens had cornice fall that tumbled close to 1000 feet before stepping down into p slab in extremely shady protected spots. West face whiterock had slid full track without stepping down. Some newer debris in the widow
Weather: Sunny. Springy, but not hot enough to really saturate anything. Enough wind to fill tracks in overnight
Snowpack: Extremely confusing. Some spots on the top of the compass had wind effect, most spots on the bottom of the compass had some sort of solar effect. Plenty of pow and it was ALL faceted. It was a crapshoot figuring out where the crust/facet sandwich was, my arms are tired from jabbing my pole thru layers.

My big takeaway…this next load will be extremely spooky, as there isn’t much continuity as far as aspect is concerned. Should be fun once it’s under a few more inches of swe

Photos:

6135

Mar. 19, 2023

WOW. Baldy slide investigation

Date of Observation: 03/19/2023
Name: Zach Guy and Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiled to the south bowl of Baldy to get a closer look at the snowmobile triggered persistent slab from yesterday.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Huge! This was the biggest human-triggered avalanche that I’ve ever investigated and the most destructive slide we’ve seen this season since the Red Lady ran in early January. The crown was just under 2,000′ wide and ran about 1200′ vert, wrapping from south to southeast aspects near and above treeline. It is a hard slab that averaged about 5 feet thick. Some of the well-drifted areas were over 10 feet with a max crown depth of 15 feet. We estimate the debris pile was up to 30 or 40 feet deep. The snowmobiler remotely triggered the slide while ascending along a safe ridgeline. They weren’t sure exactly where the trigger point was; we estimate it was near a shallower spot near the top of the bowl, about 30 or 40 feet from the avalanche. We classified the avalanche: HS-AMr-R3-D3.5-O
Observed a handful of other small storm slabs and wind slabs that ran or were triggered sometime in the past few days, and one large persistent slab on a south aspect ATL near Avery Peak. See photos and details below.
Weather: Partly cloudy, mild temps, light winds with no transport observed.
Snowpack: The avalanche failed just above the March 10th crust, and was made up of drifted snow from the March 10th-11th storm and March 15th-16th storm. We dug one snow profile in a shallower part of the crown. See profile below. The weak layer is difficult to discern (~.5 mm rounding facets, 1F) and did not produce results in an extended column test. Grain sizes are slightly larger than the overlying slab, and one level of hardness softer than the overlying slab and underlying crust, both of which are pencil-hard. The snow surface at this location was 1.0 to 1.5 mm near-surface facets over a thin, soft crust.

Photos:

6134

Mar. 19, 2023

Avalanche (skier triggered) on Snodgrass 3rd bowl

Date of Observation: 03/18/2023
Name: Travis Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Skin track from Gothic Rd (Tuttle Cabin) to 3rd bowl on Snodgrass ridge

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: An avalanche on the rollover of 3rd bowl, which appeared to be skier triggered (tracks in)
Weather: Sunny but shaded in the bowl. Calm. -7C at Gothic townsite

Photos:

6133

Mar. 19, 2023

Yule Creek

Date of Observation: 03/19/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Yule Creek area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few small triggered and natural wind slabs from northwesterly winds channeling down valley. A large persistent slab on the east side of Justice looks like it ran during the last storm.

Photos:

6132

Mar. 18, 2023

Very large avalanche triggered on Baldy

Date of Observation: 03/18/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Baldy SE face

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Snowmobile triggered around 5pm today. No humans caught. More to come.

Photos:

6131

Mar. 18, 2023

A few Slate River Obs.

Date of Observation: 03/18/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River

Observed avalanche activity: Yes

Snowpack: Loose-dry and Loose wet avalanches looked like the primary avalanche problems NTL and BTL. Both natural and skier-triggered. Most of the wet avalanche activity appeared to have occurred yesterday or previously. I didn’t travel on southerly-facing slopes today and don’t know how wet they got, but temperatures did feel cooler than yesterday. The only recent slab avalanche I saw was in the Great Wide Open of Skooks. It looked like it failed after yesterday morning’s 1″ of fairy dust.

Photos:

6130

Mar. 18, 2023

Widespread near surface faceting

Date of Observation: 03/18/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on all aspects of Mt. CB to 11,800 to observe current snow surfaces ahead of the next storm.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Had good views with binoculars of a lot of terrain. Nothing notable from the past few days; some small loose avalanches and recent cornice fall/wind slab activity off of Owen that looked to be about D1.5 in size.
Weather: Notable 30-degree diurnal swing at Butte SNOTEL past 36 hours with temps dropping to near zero overnight, and highs near freezing. Light winds, clear skies.
Snowpack: The current snow surface is the most widespread and notable near-surface faceting event I’ve observed this spring, which will spell trouble for the upcoming storm. The combination of low-density snow at the tail of the last storm, light winds, and big temperature swings the last few days have promoted faceting in the upper few cm’s of the snowpack. Today’s cool temps and strong March solar were ideal for radiation recrystallization. I found 1cm of dry, faceting grains above thin crusts (1 to 3 cm) on east, south, and west aspects, grain sizes about 1mm in size. Northerly aspects held cohesionless facets, ~1mm. I suspect only the lowest elevation southerlies got warm enough to cook off, but I didn’t verify that.

Photos:

6129

Mar. 18, 2023

While the sandbox was shaking

Date of Observation: 03/17/2023
Name: Chris Martin

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Aspen to CB via Starr Pass. We traveled over the pass via wind scoured ribs and ridges Wednesday morning before the intense precip of another river Wednesday evening.

We awoke thursday evening to the most quality powder skiing i’ve ever experienced in the friends hut zone.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Carbonate Hill Flank SE – D2 R2 Hard Slab – Natural – failing at the ground, seemingly sometime Wednesday evening

Many various shallow storm slabs failing on solar crusts about 4-12″ in thickness
Weather: Heavy precip Wednesday PM along with howling winds
Clear sunny skies Thursday
Snowpack:

Photos:

6128

Mar. 17, 2023

Recap of persistent slab activity this week.

Date of Observation: 03/17/2023
Name: Zach Guy

6127

Mar. 17, 2023

Mt Emmons N aspect above tree line

Date of Observation: 03/17/2023
Name: Frank Stern

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Wolverine Basin

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: N facing slope 12,000’
Weather: Sunny
Snowpack: Powder on N aspects, crust on S

Photos:

6126

Mar. 17, 2023

3 avalanches on 2nd bowl of Snodgrass

Date of Observation: 03/17/2023
Name: Travis Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite to Kettle Ponds

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 3 avalanches that had already run on 2nd bowl. Appeared to be natural as I couldn’t make out any tracks
Weather: Mostly sunny. -8C, no wind, but signs of drifting overnight
Snowpack:

Photos:

6124

Mar. 17, 2023

Natural avalanches from Whetstone, Axtel, Round Mountain, and Red Mountain

Date of Observation: 03/16/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Hwy 135 obs.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few natural avalanches seen from the pavement. A couple small slabs in the storm snow in Green Lake Bowl on Axtel, a large avalanche in the Octagon area on Whetstone that appears to fail below the past two storms (3/10), a small avalanche on Red Mountain (could be from the warm up on Tuesday, but I suspect occurred Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and a west-facing avalanches on Round Mountain that I believe failed during warming on Thursday (looks like it failed on 3/10 interface).
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6123

Mar. 16, 2023

Slide up on Red Ridge?

Date of Observation: 03/16/2023
Name: Grant Robbins

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Skinning up Snodgrass and across the valley appeared to be an avalanche on south aspect of Red Ridge area.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes

Photos:

6122

Mar. 16, 2023

1 notable storm slab and a few other small avalanches.

Date of Observation: 03/16/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Axtell and Evans Basin. N-E-S 9,500ft to 11,600ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A variety of old storm slabs and loose snow avalanches that were no longer sharp looking.

East on Mt Axtell: Skier triggered 3 storm slabs. 2 small slabs were triggered on steep, unsupported pillows and didn’t have much propagation. The most notable propagated fairly wide on another steep east-facing slope at 11,300ft. The slab was about 30cm deep, and the avalanche became large in size. These slabs released on very small facets sitting on the 3/15 interface.

East in Evans Basin. Snowmobile triggered 2 small, stubborn, wind slabs that ran within the new snow, and not at the old snow interface like on Axtell.

Several small loose wet avalanches ran today in Evans Basin on E and SE slopes at NTL and ATL elevations.

Weather: Parly cloudy sky. Mostly light to calm winds. Previous transport from stronger winds in the lower Kebler corridor.

Snowpack: The Recent HST is in the range of 15 to 35cm depending on how much settlement it has seen. Similar to yesterday, east aspects produced the most notable results today, with a few soft slabs failing on the recent storm interface. They have been running on small facets above the 3/15 crust. We triggered 3 slabs on this interface. A couple ran on steep and unsupported pillows. The most notable ran on a nice plainer 40-something-degree slope. Interestingly, in the afternoon I targeted the same aspect in Evan’s Basin and was unable to get any results on the same interface on steep E and SE test slopes. The loose snow avalanches and wind slab avalanches in Evans Basin also didn’t produce results on the 3/15 interface like we had seen over on Axtell.

Steep northerly facing slopes skied nice, with a few slow-moving sluffs and one small wind slab.

Photos:

6121

Mar. 16, 2023

NW forecast confirmation

Date of Observation: 03/16/2023
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Amr

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural storm sluff in the playground, see photo

Weather: Cool air temps in the morning but the sun was doing its thing on southerlies by midday. Moderate NW winds, some evidence of wind transport in amr tenure, more evidence of cross loading over in the playground, see photo. Winds had stiffened some of the new snow on north facing terrain.

Photos:

6120

Mar. 16, 2023

Persistent slab in the Anthracites

Date of Observation: 03/16/2023
Name: West Elk Air

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracite Range

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A large natural avalanche that appeared to break 2-3’ deep below last weekend’s storm snow (3/10 interface)

Photos:

6119

Mar. 16, 2023

Gothic 7am weather update

Date of Observation: 03/16/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Steady generally light snow during Wednesday picking up after dark with the heaviest coming the couple hours around midnight before stopping soon after. Total 24 hour snow was 11″ with water content of 1.03″- again very dense and wet snowfall. Snowpack sits at 87″ deep, the deepest this winter. Currently mostly cloudy with a light SW wind. Yesterday’s high was 37 and today’s low, and the current, is 20F.

This snowpack is dense and deep and it makes me worry about spring slides as not much big has run this winter so there is a lot of snow up there.

6117

Mar. 15, 2023

Soggy Pants

Date of Observation: 03/15/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mostly traveled between 10,200ft and 11,200ft on a variety of aspects in Washington Gulch.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: If a D1 had a baby, I found it. Triggered two very small storm slabs on east-facing slopes where slope angles were over 40 degrees. These slabs failed just above yesterday’s crust. several other similar test slopes didn’t produce results.

Pushed a few thick sluffs down steep slopes, but they never ran far and mostly just accordioned in the top 2 to 3 inches of moist now.

Weather: Between noon and 4pm, obscured sky with mostly S-1 to S1 snowfall. Calm winds.

Snowpack: HST was 4 to 5″. I didn’t observe an increase in the HST while out, though some water was accumulating. Calm winds and no active wind-loading were observed, though I did find a couple of drifts up to 30cm thick that must have formed during stronger winds this morning or last night. At higher elevations, there was a density change in the storm snow, with lower-density snow at the bottom of the developing storm slab. However, those slabs were just not thick enough yet to produce results. The cleanest sheers I observed were on SE and E-facing slopes with the developing storm snow producing clear shears just above yesterday’s crusts.

Pushed a few thick sluffs down steep slopes, but they never ran far and mostly just accordioned in the top 2 to 3 inches of moist now.

Photos:

6115

Mar. 15, 2023

Gothic weather

Date of Observation: 03/15/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lots of loose slide activity off steep slopes yesterday but overall surface snow is solid.
Weather: Obscured cloud cover with scattered light snow overnight and just 1″ new but yet again dense with 0.11″ of water. The snowpack is 77½” deep and very hard. Currently light snow and no wind. On the lighter side, my water line froze in November so i have had no running water all winter, but for joy, now my roof is leaking so i have running water- down the side of my walls. Whoopee.

 

6114

Mar. 14, 2023

A few more naturals from the last cycle in the Slate.

Date of Observation: 03/14/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Schuylkill Ridge and Purple Palace.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Documenting additional storm slab activity from the last cycle on the Slate, most of which ran 3/11.

Photos:

6112

Mar. 14, 2023

Slate River

Date of Observation: 03/14/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Took a lap on Schuylkill Ridge and Purple Palace, traveling mostly on east and northeast aspects N/BTL.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of small wet loose and two small storm slabs that either ran today or yesterday during the warm sunny weather. The storm slabs were about a foot thick on Peeler Peek, on east and northeast aspects, triggered by sluffs.
Like elsewhere, the Slate saw a significant storm slab cycle during the last storm, with lots of evidence of moving snow, partially filled in crowns and debris. The most notable slides were two off of the Great Wide Open that reached valley floor, one off of the west side of Baldy that crossed the slate, and all of the W/SW gullies off of Gothic produced large slides.
Weather: Partly cloudy skies, mild temps, light winds.
Snowpack: No signs of instability underfoot apart from some minor rollerballs. Stability tests on E and NE aspects produced non-propagating results on the storm interface down about 60 cm. On a SE aspect near treeline, we got repeatable propagating results (ECTP19, ECTP21) on a faceted crust down 80 cm, which was the 2nd crust from the top of the snowpack.
Snow surfaces got wet on all but the northern quadrant. Surface crusts transition from very soft and thin on northeast, to much thicker due south. I found dry, recrystallized grains developing above the crust on NE, E, and SE aspects. These were cooked off on due south. On north aspects, the snow surface was a mix of decomposing/fragmented grains and graupel. There was some surface hoar growth below 10,000′ feet this morning, but that appeared to be cooked or evolving into the near-surface facets above the crust.

Photos:

6111

Mar. 14, 2023

Skier caught and carried on the Blob

Date of Observation: 03/14/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: I was in a group of 3 today and we skied the North Face of Blob in the Yule Creek drainage.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We reached the summit of The Blob with no signs of instability. The first 2 skiers skied the line with no issues. I was the 3rd skier and skied skiers left of the first two tracks. The line has multiple rolls and the line I skied had a large roll in the middle of it. Once I made a few turns down that roll, the slope began to fracture around me. I tried to ski out of it on the right side but the debris took my skies out from under me. I was in the debris for roughly 100 to 300 feet but managed to stay on top the entire time. I eventually came to a stop about halfway down the bed surface and a few hundred feet above where the slide stopped. Both of my skis came out during the slide but I was able to locate both of them and ski back down to my partners who were out of the way of the slide. No injuries occurred and I was able to ski out to the car with all of my gear.

Photos:

6110

Mar. 13, 2023

Skier triggered slab on Snodgrass

Date of Observation: 03/13/2023
Name: Text Message

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Photo submitted via text to CBAC. Storm slab appears to be unintentionally triggered by a skier or rider. Some snow in the tracks so likely triggered on Saturday or Sunday.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
6108

Mar. 13, 2023

A few more storm slabs from the recent cycle

Date of Observation: 03/13/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Various locations as viewed from town and Brush Creek.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Documenting a few more storm slabs that likely ran early Saturday, and a small glide release that ran today.

Photos:

6107

Mar. 13, 2023

Irwin obs

Date of Observation: 03/13/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few point releases on Robinson E wall, and SW aspects in the New World. All below rock bands. The Southeast Face of Afley ran wall to wall during the storm.
Snowpack: No signs of instability today, yesterdays storm slabs have settled and become unreactive. Snow surfaces did get moist on all aspects and elevations in our tenure. Roller balls were starting on E-S aspects after 1230. No signs of instability after AE tests on S aspects or any other of our terrain traveled

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
6106

Mar. 13, 2023

Hot storm slab off of Teo today, plus recent persistent slab activity

Date of Observation: 03/13/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: West Brush Creek. Traveled mostly on east and northeast aspects to 11,600′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed a large storm slab (D2.5) run this afternoon off the south face of Teo. The slab initiated as a relatively small pocket on a southeast aspect and then triggered a much broader, thicker crown on a cross-loaded terrain feature facing south that subsequently ran to valley floor.
Several very small dry loose and wet loose avalanches ran throughout the day.
West Brush Creek drainage saw a fairly widespread storm slab cycle, D1-D2, likely Friday night-Saturday morning. Pics show the largest slides, though there were plenty more. In three of the S/SW gullies of Teo, storm slabs stepped down and triggered more destructive persistent slabs, D2.5-D3. The crowns were mostly filled in but I measured debris blocks as thick as 4 feet, pencil hard.
Weather: Few to scattered skies through mid-afternoon. Mild temps. Calm winds.
Snowpack: I didn’t measure storm snow totals, but they seemed on par with other areas, in the 2-foot range. Snow surfaces became moist to wet on everything without a northerly tilt, producing a few rollerballs and minor sluffs. We skied on several steep, shady slopes with no signs of instability. However, we did get a creek bed to calve off about 3-feet deep on a facet layer at valley bottom.

Photos:

6105

Mar. 13, 2023

Axtell Skier Trigger

Date of Observation: 03/13/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Axtell 1st bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Remote triggered D1.5 storm slab from 5m away on east-facing flank of 1st bowl near old prayer flags. Collapse was loud. Crown estimated to be 70cm x 20m. Appeared to fail at storm interface.
Several old crowns in 1st and 2nd bowl that looked to have released mid-storm.
Ski cut triggered D1 in a north-facing chute of 1st bowl. The second rider was able to trigger additional hang fire with a second ski cut. Crown was estimated to be 40cm x 10m. This path appeared to have failed mid-storm then again with our ski cuts presumably at the storm interface.

Photos:

6104

Mar. 13, 2023

Frequent avalanches off Gothic east face

Date of Observation: 03/13/2023
Name: Travis Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic road between gothic town site and SAIL site

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Heard/saw about 8 avalanches running down the chutes on gothic east face. First avalanche seen was at 11:07 (circled in red). Subsequent avalanches seen/heard for the next 2 hours (circled in green)
Weather: Sunny, calm, -3.2C (at 11:10am)

Photos:

6103

Mar. 13, 2023

Alls Quite on the RL

Date of Observation: 03/13/2023
Name: Rob Strickland

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard skinner. A few inches of new provide a bit of float above the crusts

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: – East side of the bowl (west facing) wet slab.
– Inde basin (photo). All east facing ripped and looked like a shallow slab but impressive R3/4.
– But no movement on east facing Elk Creek shots.
Some examples of cornice fall to D1 and filled in again.
Weather: Partly light… partly cloudy.
Snowpack: Deeep. Where’d all those little trees go?

Photos:

6102

Mar. 13, 2023

Gothic Weather

Date of Observation: 03/13/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Light snow Sunday, then a short wave after dark before scattered showers overnight with 6″ new and water a more reasonable 0.44″. Currently cloudy with a few small patches of what passes for blue (take what you can get) and calm (have to love that one). Current snowpack is winter deepest at 83½”
Snowpack:

6101

Mar. 13, 2023

Irwin storm slabs

Date of Observation: 03/12/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several non-destructive D1 storm slabs on W NTL. 50-100′ wide propagation.
Weather: OVC, 27/17 deg, W 10-20 g 30, convective snow showers off and on S1.
Snowpack: Snow became low-density by the end of the storm. Afternoon 2d SWE 6%. W aspects NTL touchy-very touchy nondestructive storm slabs 6-10″ this morning. DL on W & E aspects on terrain >37 deg, mostly surface graupel from today’s snow.

6100

Mar. 12, 2023

Whoomfing

Date of Observation: 03/12/2023
Name: Cosmo Langsfeld

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Grassy Hill

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Overcast. Started snowing in earnest around 1pm.
Snowpack: A few quiet whoomfs on west/southwestish meadows around 10500-11k. Didnt see any shooting cracks or feel anything collapse. Just whoomfs.

6099

Mar. 12, 2023

Mt Emmons BTL

Date of Observation: 03/12/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt Emmons. 9,000 to 10,200. W-NE-E. BTL

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 3 to 4 D2’s in the Climax Chutes and a few smaller avalanches. These all likely ran early Saturday morning. Couldn’t see any crowns in the start zones, so assuming they were storm slabs that entrained snow.

A couple of small point releases today on various aspects.

Weather: Mostly cloudy. Calm wind. Up to 2″ of new snow in the afternoon.

Snowpack: We didn’t find any signs of instability on this lower-elevation tour. Lots of settlement from yesterday, and yesterday’s crust that formed around most of the compass, appeared to have killed the storm slab problem in this location. A couple of small point-release avalanches that ran today in the climax chutes, and on a NE-facing slope at 10,400ft didn’t propagate in the storm snow. We did 1 ECT test at 9,600ft, NE aspect, 35-degree slope, and got ECTN results in the storm snow and at the old snow interface.

HST on yesterday’s crust was 4″ down low and 6″ at 10,200ft.

We ran into the Gunsight Moose on the descent. The Moose was hanging out on GB loop.

6098

Mar. 12, 2023

Storm instabilities quieting down in Cement Creek

Date of Observation: 03/12/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on various aspects of Cement Creek and Reno Ridge to 11,200′, as far up valley as Block and Tackle Trail.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The most notable avalanche in Cement Creek was the previously reported large slide that crossed the road between Warm Springs and Deadmans Saturday morning during the storm. This appeared to be a wind-drifted storm slab that entrained a large amount of snow (see photo); the main lobe of debris was about 10 feet deep and stopped just short of the road, with some debris washing across the road to the creek. I saw one other D1 storm slab below treeline and evidence of moving snow on steep roadcuts from the storm. Visibility of above treeline terrain was limited. No new avalanches today.
Weather: Mostly cloudy, with intermittent periods of moderate snowfall. About 3″ of new snow overnight and today. Light winds and no blowing snow.
Snowpack: No signs of instability while snowmobiling and skiing on numerous steep slopes. I was able to produce some localized cracking about a foot deep on a drifted slope after undercutting the feature first. Storm totals are 18″ to 24″ deep, fist to fist+ hard; stiffer and more upside-down on drifted features.
I was hunting for signs of persistent slab issues on shallower slopes and did not get any collapses or unstable results. On a WNW facing terrain feature, I found a structure that would be concerning with additional slab consolidation and snowfall: it was a 60 cm fist hard soft slab over 2mm, fist hard facets, ECTX results (slab crumbled).

Photos:

6097

Mar. 12, 2023

Foothills of Flat Top Mountain/Almont

Date of Observation: 03/12/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: South of CBAC forecast zone
Route Description: Seen from 135

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Impressive out-of-the-ordinary naturals around Almont as seen with the other observation posted. This one is in the east-facing foothills below Flat Top mountain outside the fish hatchery.
Weather: Snowing, sunny, wet, warm.
Snowpack: Deep for this area.

Photos:

6096

Mar. 12, 2023

Irwin Cat-Ski observations and control results

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Irwin Guides Cat-Ski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Guides cat-ski tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Avalanche observations: HST responsive to AE, unresponsive to AS
Long HS-AE-R1-D1.5-I DF (30cm x 10m x 135m)
Way Long HS-AE-R1-D2-I MF (30cm x 20m x 135m)
Thorton’s HS-AE-R1-D1.5-I MF (50cm x 20m x 115m)
Bender HS-AE-R1-D1.5-S DF (15cm x 10m x 125m)
Flaming Ferrari HS-AE-R1-D1-S DF (20cm x 5m x 50m)
Weather: “We are currently HST: 28/3.2″ with more snow in the forecast. We also cracked a 100″ base today, which is nice.

The latest round of precip came with an extreme SW wind event, which is less nice. Last night we registered 5 hours of wind gusts from 35-48 at our base area study plot at 10.4k.”
Snowpack: This wind event combined with a warming trend during the storm produced widespread hardness inversions that were responsive to AE, but not to AS. A most uninspiring structure.

6095

Mar. 12, 2023

Kebler Pass corridor natural Storm Slabs – shared via Instagram

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Insta Gram

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Pass Road obs

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: “Counted 7+ D1.5’s along Kebler corridor this morning between TH and Axtel skintrack – All on the South facing road cuts”
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6094

Mar. 12, 2023

Cement Creek xc trail natural avalanche – shared via Instagram

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Insta Gram

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Natural avalanche impacting Cement Creek Road/xc trail

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: “Hard to tell, but the big path in the heart of Cement Creek XC trail ran last night…looked like it wasn’t even from the very top from what I could see.”
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6093

Mar. 11, 2023

Brush Creek Mayhem

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Ben Ammon

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Epicing our way out way out from Friends Hut after coming over Pearl. Skintrack to Friends is in.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: -4 of the THC chutes all ran full path probably early morning 3/11. The largest (#4) crossed East Brush Creek and made it to about where the normal route to Friends is. All started as storm slabs up high and then stepped down into persistent layers mid track, typically near the cliff bands. First 4 photos.
-The slope above the West Brush creek crossing buried the road and almost made it to the creek. 5th photo
-Storm slab crossed Brush Creek in the steep terrain between Hunt Camp and the West Brush crossing. 6th and 7th photo
-North Bowl of Cement slid, looked big from a long ways away. Last photo
-Many other D1 storm slabs, mostly E aspects, but some on every aspect, all seemed to fail early AM and were partially filled back in.
Weather: Clearing and sun mid day, but clouds and light snow moved back in after 1pm. Winds were generally light with occasional moderate guests BTL.
Snowpack: Settled storm total at Friends Hut as of 9am 3/11 was 29 inches of way upside down snow. Likely a fair bit of settlement as there was ~18 inches of 3-4% by dark on 3/10. Holy deepness. Collapsed the storm slabs problem on just about every meadow in the East Brush valley. We avoided Death Pass but I’d bet it slid as well.

Photos:

6092

Mar. 11, 2023

Natural avalanche from Almont area – shared via text message to CBAC

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Text Message Obsevation

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: This area sits outside the CBAC forecast area just north of Almost above highway 135 (forecaster description)

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural avalanche north of Almont on a northeast-facing slope, around 8,400 feet.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

6091

Mar. 11, 2023

Thick storm snow!

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Lower Anthracite Mesa from Washington Gulch Trailhead.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few natural storm slab avalanches on east and northeast aspects, D1 – D1.5. Intentionally skier triggered a moist Loose avalanche on a southeast slope below treeline.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies, about 20 inches of storm snow, light to moderate winds, and mild air temps. Just afternoon there was a period of ‘green housing’ from the sun poking through thin clouds that quickly warmed, settled, and wet snow surfaces on the south half of the compass.
Snowpack: While moving through northeast, east, and southeast aspects below treeline we experienced few signs of instability outside of the natural Storm Slabs that ran during a period of intense snowfall earlier in the morning. On east-facing terrain, we produced a few muffled collapses during a period of strong ‘green-housing’ while surfaces were moist (nearly wet). If I skinned above my partner’s skin track, I was able to produce some ski-length cracks above the established skin track. Test results on an east slope produced an ECTP 28 +1 result and ECTN within the storm snow (see photo). While traveling over a southeast slope, the storm snow had settled and moistened/wetted to a dense, manky 10 inches ( see photo).

Photos:

6090

Mar. 11, 2023

A few storm slabs from the Southeast Mountains

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Whetstone, Gibson Ridge, and Emmons viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of D1.5 to D2 storm slabs at all elevations. Had decent visibility and did not see anything that stepped down deeper from Whetstone to Axtell to Emmons.

Photos:

6089

Mar. 11, 2023

Nordic Hill avalanches

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Avalanche mitigation on the small slopes above the ice rink and nordic hill. NE-E aspects at 9,000′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 3 storm slabs ran naturally on the Nordic Hill earlier this morning, about a foot deep. Remotely triggered a drifted storm slab from 20 feet away that was almost 2 feet deep. It broke on precip particles just above the storm interface (windboard). Numerous roof avalanches in town.
Weather: Heavy snowfall rates this morning, light winds.
Snowpack: About 18″ of top-heavy storm snow produced localized cracking in wind-protected terrain (up to 8′ long). Slabs were noticeably thicker and more reactive in drifted terrain, where I got a collapse, shooting cracks, and a remote trigger. All instabilities were on low-density precip particles that fell near the start of the storm (non-PWL).

Photos:

6088

Mar. 11, 2023

Gothic AM weather obs

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Obscured clouds and heavy, very dense snow from Friday afternoon on with 20½ inches new and water an absurd 2.19″. Wind became very strong overnight. It remains obscured with moderate to heavy snow with strong wind. The snowpack is at 79½”, winters deepest. billy
Snowpack:

6086

Mar. 11, 2023

Dumping!

Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Lap up Mount Emmons and snowmobile ride out the Kebler corridor to Horse Ranch Park. Traveled between 1130 and 330pm.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I was able to trigger a small avalanche on a drifted feature above treeline into Redwell Basin. Storm totals at this time were around 7 inches and the drifted slab was around 10 inches.
Weather: Consistent snowfall during the afternoon. Snowfall rates of 1 inch per hour or greater. Southwest wind blew at moderate speeds with strong gusts while I was above treeline in the early afternoon. While at the valley bottom later in the afternoon wind speeds appeared to be ramping up. Snowfall totals reached close to 10 inches at 330pm with higher-than-normal densities.
Snowpack: I traveled around simply watching the storm develop, but not enough snow had accumulated by 330 for much to happen. Small Wind Slabs developed by the early afternoon, but sheltered areas had yet to gather enough storm snow to cause much of a problem. I suspect that shortly after I left the mountains storm totals began to increase enough, due to heavy snowfall rates, that shallow Storm Slabs began forming in sheltered areas as well. A Shovel Tilt Test showed a slight density change at the bottom of the storm snow in a location with 8 inches.

6085

Mar. 10, 2023

Sluffing on Emmons

Date of Observation: 03/10/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mount Emmons, various aspects near and below treeline.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a handful of small loose snow avalanches involving the new snow; the longest ran about 1000’ vert.
Weather: S1 to S2 throughout the day. Calm winds where we traveled.
Snowpack: The new snow was not bonding well to old surfaces (sun crusts, wind board, NSF). Storm totals ranged from about 8” or 9” NTL to 6” at valley floor by 4 pm. The snow was cohesionless and sluffing, no cracking or slabbing yet.

6084

Mar. 10, 2023

amr beginning of storm obs

Date of Observation: 03/10/2023
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: amr ziggins, big, east bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: old debris at bottom of big chute under the steep roll on the right hand side. Also old debris at bottom of ziggins, I skied in the trees so didn’t identify where it had come from. Maybe from the right handrail of the ziggins gully?
No storm instabilities on the first two laps. On the last lap around 3:30 things seemed to be reaching a bit of a tipping point, the storm snow sluffing more actively with some clean fractures, tho no real propagation
Weather: warm and wet. 3-4 inches of heavy snow when I arrived at 1, another solid 3 inches on the sled 3 hours later. Calm throughout the amr tenure, some gusts on the ridge
Snowpack:

6083

Mar. 10, 2023

Rockfall triggered avalanche?

Date of Observation: 03/07/2023
Name: Mark Robbind

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Playground

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: See photo.

Weather: Air temp surprisingly cool, didn’t get uncomfortably warm

Snowpack: Unsupportive sun crust on southerlies in the morning. Dry snow with very manageable wind affect near and below tree line north-northeast

Photos:

6082

Mar. 08, 2023

Green Lake Bowl Cornice Avalanche

Date of Observation: 03/08/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Green Lake area. Below Mt Axtell

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The Cornice above Green Lake Bowl on Mt Axtell released sometime between yesterday and 9am this morning. I’d assume someone would have seen it yesterday afternoon if it was there. The resulting avalanche was very large in size. The fish in Green Lake were sloshed, but not displaced. The snowpack below the cornice was mostly cleaned out to the ground. However notably there wasn’t a slab avalanche that propagated any wider than where the cornice fell. The cornice above this slope was massive previous to this avalanche.

Weather: Overcast and fairly warm temps. Light winds below 11,000ft.

Photos:

6081

Mar. 08, 2023

Shallow snowpack obs in lower Brush Creek

Date of Observation: 03/07/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Lower Brush Creek

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: nothing new observed
Weather: Thin high clouds reduced throughout the day. Mild air temps above the freezing mark. Moderate SW winds with some strong gusts.
Snowpack: Traveled through below treeline slopes close to valley bottom with depths ranging from 70cm on south up to 120cm on northerly aspects. Southerly aspects have thick melt/freeze crusts at the surface that soften and lost support to skis but remained intact preventing Wet Loose avalanches concerns from developing. On south and southeast slopes melt water has yet to reach the ground (did not dig on southwest). I was surprised to get moderate propagating test results at two locations on northeast-facing terrain (see images). Early season facets at the base of the snowpack remain weak with just enough slab cohesion for propagation.

Photos:

6078

Mar. 07, 2023

Cement Creek and Star Pass ob

Date of Observation: 03/06/2023
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek to Crystal Creek through Upper Taylor River to Taylor Pass.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Only a few cornice collapses, some which trundles vehicles size blocks. In one area near Star Pass the cornice chunks cracked a tiny D1 slab immediately below, but it did not propagate beyond the cornice collapse area.
Weather: Nice day, Southwest winds increased in the afternoon just enough to move snow along ridges. Valley bottom temperatures reached around 40 degrees
Snowpack: The March 3-4 wind event ravaged this area, scouring and sublimating snow surfaces in the alpine. The winds drifted snow deep into the treeline, forming discontinuous pencil-hard slabs in below-treeline meadows and behind wind-breaks near treeline.
Height of snow in wind-sheltered near treeline locations generally ranged from 140 to 180cm. We measured snow in the alpine generally around 150 to 170cm, but well over 300cm in drifts, with bare ground on ridges after the wind event.
We saw inconsistent new wind-slab formation in start zones, with scoured textures below many cornices adjacent to pockets of pencil hard drifts (mostly wind-eroded old drifts). These drifts proved unreactive, with no cracking seen through 50+ miles of terrain covered. The drifts were too hard to impact with snowpack tests.
Below 11,000′, snow surfaces wetted on southerly-facing terrain. We experienced a couple very localized collapses (with no visible cracking) where water percolated down to the mid-February crusts. Water was pooled on top of the uppermost crusts, around 30cm below the snow surface.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
6077

Mar. 06, 2023

Wind will it end?

Date of Observation: 03/06/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch to Baldy Mountain and lap on Coneys at the end of the day.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I observed a couple of older Wind Slab debris piles with blown-over crowns on southeast aspect in Baldy’s Rock Creek Bowl and a northwest pocket on Gothic Mountain. Fresh cornice-fall triggered slabs created large avalanches in Peeler Basin (different from the other reported slide) and north aspect of Schuylkill Peak into Baxter Basin.
Weather: Relentless SW winds around 30-40 mph in the alpine with gusts over 60 mph. Temps at low elevations out of the wind felt a bit above freezing and wet snow surfaces on sunny slopes.
Snowpack: We went hunting for recent hard slabs formed by the wind and did not encounter signs of instability on stiff, supportive-to-ski, drifts on northeast, east, and southeast aspects at different elevations. We ski-cut and skied several smaller slopes with obvious hard slabs up to 12″ thick without result. Recent Wind Slabs in this area appear to be stubborn or unreactive now. Minor drifting was observed throughout the day but did appear to produce any significant loading.

Photos:

6076

Mar. 06, 2023

Cornice fall triggered deep slab in Redwell Basin

Date of Observation: 03/06/2023
Name: Ian Havlick

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Redwell Basin

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Cornice fall triggered deep slab in Redwell. Failed sometime after yesterday afternoon.

Photos:

6075

Mar. 05, 2023

Hard slabville

Date of Observation: 03/05/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Southeast shoulder of Gothic to 11,500′, and east side of Snograss BTL.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several natural D1-1.5 wind slab avalanches on Axtell, Whetstone, and the Shield (Redwell Basin). One in Redwell Basin that looked large (D2) from a distance.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies north of town, partly cloudy south of town. Light winds below treeline except for some periods of strong gusts/blowing snow in valley bottom. Blowing snow continued for most of the day off of the high peaks, and near treeline was somewhere between the two.
Snowpack: Snow surfaces remained soft and relatively unaffected by winds below treeline on Snodgrass. In sheltered terrain, the snow surface was denser and creamier compared to yesterday, with no new slab formation. As we moved into more wind exposed near treeline terrain, surfaces were heavily wind affected, varying from eroded to the last crust or loaded into hard thin slabs. Fresh wind slabs on small terrain features ranged from 3″ to 16″ thick. Some produced cracking, some produced collapses, and others gave no feedback to stomps or ski cuts. I didn’t ski cut the larger looking slabs in a proper windloaded start zone because I don’t like messing with hard slabs.

Photos:

6073

Mar. 05, 2023

Irwin wind slabs

Date of Observation: 03/05/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Candy’s SS-ASc-D1-I 8-10″ X 30′ X 200′ MFC E aspect NTL

Pre-E SS-AE-D1- I 8-10″ X 40′ X 150′ MFC E NTL

NC SS-ASc-D1-I. 6-8″ X 40′ X 150′ MFC SE NTL
Weather: From 2100-1100 the winds averaged in the mid 40’s from the SW with several gusts in the 60’s-70’s topping out at 87 last night.
Snowpack: A few wind slabs on E NTL reactive to ski cuts, some quality breaker wind board on W N/ATL, and some nice pow stashes in the safe places down low amongst the forest creatures.

6072

Mar. 05, 2023

Moderately Uncivilized Winds BTL

Date of Observation: 03/05/2023
Name: Ben Ammon

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Coney’s

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Hella blowy.
Snowpack: 10,550′ NE 30* slope HS 295cm
ECTN 24 down 35cm
ECTN 27 down 50cm
ECTN 30 down 80cm
second ECT produced same results
no propagation or reactivity down to 110cm

6071

Mar. 05, 2023

Short E facing couloir on Gothic

Date of Observation: 03/04/2023
Name: Danny H

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Travelled up to the Snodgrass saddle and then up towards Gothic through an southeast facing couloir.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Remnant avalanche that came through the spork couloir down Gothic probably from the wind loading last week. Also saw evidence of cracking with a 4-inch thick propagating crack that gave on the old wind crust from last week.
Weather: Calm and overcast until around 4pm when ridgeline winds began ripping.
Snowpack: Dug a test pit to assess the faceted layer about 2 feet down. The facets were overlaid by a 4cm thick melt-freeze crust most likely from the period before this last number of storms and we could not activate the weak layer with ECTX results.

6070

Mar. 05, 2023

Wind slab and collapse on Carbon

Date of Observation: 03/04/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Carbon Peak

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Fresh wind slab in the past 24 to 48 hours off of east face of Carbon
Weather:
Snowpack: Pretty good collapse at 10,000 ft along a broad ridge, snowdepth was 200 cm at that location.

Photos:

6069

Mar. 04, 2023

Sneaky storm totals in the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 03/04/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on various aspects of Mt. Owen and Mt. Afley to 13,000′, mostly N/ATL.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A notable amount of avalanches in the new snow ran overnight, D1 to 1.5, with a couple long running slides approaching D2 in size. These appeared to be a combination of loose snow avalanches and soft slabs of wind drifted snow, on all aspects above treeline.
Conditions were relatively quiet today, I was able to ski trigger a small wind drift and get some shallow sluffs.
Weather: Thin overcast with enough solar to moisten some sunny slopes. Light winds most of the day started ramping up around 2 p.m. At 3p.m. we were on top of Afley and immersed in intense blowing snow and whiteout conditions during strong gusts.
Snowpack: 24-hour storm totals ranged from 10″ near treeline to 16″ in sheltered terrain above treeline! Low density with signs of wind drifting in the more exposed terrain. I produced some localized cracking in those drifts, up to 18″ thick or so. We observed one collapse on a west aspect near treeline of Afley Peak, estimated about 18″ deep on some older facet/crust layers.
Fetches were blown dry at ridgetop from last night’s winds, but there’s still plenty of loose snow available for transport (10-15″) further downslope in alpine fetches or in less exposed near treeline terrain for tomorrow’s winds to work with.

Photos:

6068

Mar. 04, 2023

Snodgrass Pit

Date of Observation: 03/04/2023
Name: Ben A

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass East and North

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Overcast most of the day with occasional moments of greenhousing, and Souths were warming.
Snowpack: 10,000′ E – HS 195cm
CTH down 25cm and 40cm
ECTN24 down 25cm, ECTN26 down 40cm
ECTP down 90cm on bonus taps after removing the ECTN results

6067

Mar. 03, 2023

Donut Hole BTL

Date of Observation: 03/03/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on the southern side of Mt. Crested Butte, on various aspects up to 10,500′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Shallow sluffing in very steep terrain
Weather: An inch of new snow. Calm winds below treeline.
Snowpack: Snowpack tests on various aspects were unreactive; the snowpack felt generally safe. The upper snowpack facet layers are weaker and more developed here than in deeper areas, but I couldn’t find enough of a slab above those layers to be an issue. The most concerning structure I found was on a lightly cross drifted NE facing slope, with a 45 cm soft slab (4F) over F+, 1mm facets. It produced moderate, non-propagating results. Stacks of crusts or faceted crusts add strength to the upper 20 cm of the snowpack on the southern half of the compass. Deeper layers were unreactive; the midpack is generally faceted out.

Photos:

6065

Mar. 03, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary Feb 27-Mar 2, 2023

The weekly summary is here. A series of storms brought over 2 feet of snow to the valley and a natural avalanche cycle that ran after the extreme winds on Monday 2/27.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Summary February 24 – March 2, 2023 COMPRESSED
Mar. 02, 2023

Brush Creek

Date of Observation: 03/02/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Brush Creek. 9,000ft to 11,600ft. NE-E.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The most recent-looking avalanche failed in the last couple of days. 11,800ft, NE slope, some cornice chunks popped a slab avalanche that become large in size. Best guess is that this slab broke within the recent storm snow around 30 to 45cm deep below a wind-loaded ridgeline.

A couple of other large avalanches failed on an East facing slope near the Union Chutes and the south face of Teo. These each had around 25 to 30cm of snow on the debris so I’d estimate they ran during the extreme wind event around 2/22.

Weather: The clear sky became partly cloudy in the afternoon. I saw a couple of snow plumes off the high peaks before mid-day, otherwise nothing notable and calm winds while I was out.

Snowpack: Targeted the late January to February portion of the snowpack. In some areas around 9,300ft, the interface that was buried in early February still consisted of well-developed near-surface facets. However, on an east-facing slope at 9,300ft, I only got ECTN results and no results on test slopes. HS in these areas was 140cm or less and the 20 to 30cm of snow on top of that interface was perhaps just not enough of a slab.

Further up Brush Creek at 10,300ft the HS had climbed to 185cm and the same interface was buried by about 50cm’s of snow. The interface was notably less weak and didn’t produce in ECT or CT tests.

I spend some time trying to find the goldilocks slope between those to data points that would produce an unstable result or show signs of instability but never found it. There were some other suspect areas that would have been nice to look at.

Great skiing on NE-facing slopes, while East-facing slopes were developing a new crust. Steep south-facing slopes ATL had a few roller balls and loose snow avalanches.

Photos:

6064

Mar. 02, 2023

Natural activity from the storm: NW Mountains

Date of Observation: 03/02/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: West Elk Air flight covering most of the forecast zone. This ob highlights activity in the Northwest Mountains.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The Tuesday/Wednesday storm produced numerous wind slab avalanches, D1.5 to D2, see photos. Most of these appeared to run on Tuesday as well as a handful on Wednesday. The last pulse of the storm on Wednesday also produced many small loose avalanches and a handful of thin storm slabs involving just Wednesday’s storm snow. I spotted two fresh persistent slab avalanches that failed on old weak layers, one was a wind slab that stepped down a few feet on an east facing, windloaded ATL slope near Coffee Pot Pass, in the Southeast Mountains. The other was on a steep, shallow east facing slope near treeline on East Beckwith in the Northwest Mountains. That slope has slab avalanched at least twice this year, so it has an unusually shallow snowpack.
Weather: Clear, light winds.

Photos:

6063

Mar. 02, 2023

Large skier triggered avalanche on Wednesday on Whetstone, and a few more naturals from SE Mtns

Date of Observation: 03/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Southeast mountains, viewed from Highway 135 and Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A large avalanche on Whetstone Octogon was reportedly skier triggered on 3/1. The avalanche looks like it gouged to near the ground on a slope that is very shallow. Plus a few more naturals from the storm. See photos and details.

Photos:

6062

Mar. 02, 2023

Natural activity from the storm: SE Mtns

Date of Observation: 03/02/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: West Elk Air flight covering most of the forecast zone. This ob highlights activity in the Southeast Mountains.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The Tuesday/Wednesday storm produced numerous wind slab avalanches, D1.5 to D2, see photos. Most of these appeared to run on Tuesday as well as a handful on Wednesday. The last pulse of the storm on Wednesday also produced many small loose avalanches and a handful of thin storm slabs involving just Wednesday’s storm snow. I spotted two fresh persistent slab avalanches that failed on old weak layers, one was a wind slab that stepped down a few feet on an east facing, windloaded ATL slope near Coffee Pot Pass, in the Southeast Mountains. The other was on a steep, shallow east facing slope near treeline on East Beckwith in the Northwest Mountains. That slope has slab avalanched at least twice this year, so it has an unusually shallow snowpack.
Weather: Clear skies, no wind drifting this morning except on White Rock Mtn.

Photos:

6061

Mar. 02, 2023

Gothic 7am Weather Update

Date of Observation: 03/02/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Wednesday had an obscured cloud cover all day with very light but steady snow, then snow after dark before clearing after midnight and turning colder. New snow was 4″ with 0.30″ of water and the snowpack is at 69½”. The high temperature was 23F and it dropped to the current -8. The wind was thankfully light and currently it is calm. This is the first visibility in a while but i have not checked for slide activity yet.

6060

Mar. 01, 2023

Irwin Area Explosive Results

Date of Observation: 03/01/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: E aspects reactive to AE 4F+ slabs failing on a small grained FC layer from the 2/26
interface. Knocked out some of the hang fire from Pre E and jumped with all our might on the rest but only
got it to inch down but wouldn’t budge.
Premature Evacuation SS-AE-R1-D1.5-I FC (70cm x 23m x 54m)
NC Shooter SS-AE-R1-D1-I FC (40cm x 15m x 53m)
Hollywood & Vine SS-AB-R1-D1-I FC (30cm x 15m x 50m)s

Snowpack: W aspects BTL lacked any slab in the recent storm snow. The 2″ from last night was
reactive and picked up enough speed to run full track on terrain >37 deg. 30-70 cm thick cross loads on EBM .
Buried MFC on Sunny shoulder seem to be breaking down and getting weaker.

Photos:

6059

Mar. 01, 2023

MT Emmons

Date of Observation: 03/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt Emmons. 9,000-11,400ft. NW-N-E

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Poor visibility, but nothing we could see.

Weather: Light snow with about 2″ of new by 2pm. Calm winds.

Snowpack: No avalanche problems were encountered while skiing steep slopes. Minimal sluffing in the low-density snow that was accumulating today. Wind loading patterns from yesterday were not recognizable with the more recent snow that has accumulated since the winds died off. This week’s total storm accumulations have settled to around 20 to 30cm.

We dug a test profile on a 34-degree, east-facing slope at 10,700ft. HS was around 265. ECTN within the storm snow. Modified deep tap ect produced N results on both the valentines and late January interfaces.

Photos:

6058

Mar. 01, 2023

Remotely triggered persistent slab near Friends Hut

Date of Observation: 03/01/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Friends Hut area, shared via InReach

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D2 remote east ntl. 2-4 feet deep. Couldn’t get to crown but crust/facet above crown likely culprit.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
6057

Mar. 01, 2023

Friends Hut weather

Date of Observation: 03/01/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Friends Hut update via InReach message.
Weather: HST 11″/.9″ , 14″/1.2″ since 2/26. Efficient winds A/NTL yesterday but quiet around hut last night. Light snowfall started early this AM

6055

Mar. 01, 2023

Gothic weather

Date of Observation: 03/01/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Snow Tuesday ran until mid afternoon and then held off until after midnight with 24 hour total of 5″ new and water content 0.44″. Only light but dense snow in the past few hours. The wind stayed strong yesterday but has stopped and there was even a bit of clearing before midnight as the temperature dropped to -7F but with the clouds it is currently back up to 8. Currently obscured and calm with a few flakes of snow. Snowpack is at 66½”
Snowpack:

6054

Feb. 28, 2023

Kebler zone

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: jeff banks

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler zone

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: howling winds along Kebler road and zero visibility at times
snow increased to 2-3cm/hr ~1:30PM with low density fluff
Snowpack: Intense snow transport + drifting in the open Kebler road areas

Snow not affected by wind in the thick old growth forest -No drifting or wind slab- @ 9,500-10,700
Lots of tree bombs releasing

Numerous hand shears showed the new snow well bonded to the old surface.
Cohesive, denser Mid-storm layer 10cm thick (heavily rimed + graupel) with a little localized cracking, but un-reactive on steep micro terrain log pillows.

6053

Feb. 28, 2023

Irwin PM obs

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Low loading patterns on W aspects BTL Reactive 8-10″ wind slabs to AS specific to terrain fetches which then transitioned into storm slabs by the afternoon. S aspects BTL stubborn wind slabs cracking but not running.
Ray SS-ASc-D1-I 12-14″ X 50′ X 75′
Weather: Extreme winds early this morning with periods of intense precipitation.
Snowpack: Study plot showed 8″ this morning and another 10″ today with 1.6″ SWE. Not confident in the snow total because of our friendly winds today. Felt more like a foot storm total.

6052

Feb. 28, 2023

reactive storm snow in the anthracites

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: the usual anthracites shots

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: third party member in ziggins rode a little further left than the first two, who skied right of the main gully with no reactivity. Entering the main gully right of the windlip/cornice, it broke, and while the rider cut right, it ran with fast energy the full track of ziggins to the bench. I didn’t see it but it sounds like most or all of the windlip broke and ran. Entrained storm snow but no other propagating or stepping down.

wind-lips on right side of big chute fractured with shooting cracks when skiing up to them. Stomped some off, which broke easily but didn’t run far and didn’t produce any results.
Weather: the wind was indeed violent, tho mellowed as the day went on. Snow was coming down heavy most of the time, with the skin track partially to fully filled in between laps with new snowfall and wind transport.
Snowpack: Thick 8 inches of new snow with a little graupel in the mix, with an additional 4-6 or so increasingly fluffy snow falling during the day.

6051

Feb. 28, 2023

Reactive wind slabs on Gothic

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Afternoon tour. Traveled up the southeast shoulder of Gothic to 11,500′ looking for wind slab feedback, and on east and northeast aspects of Snodgrass to monitor below treeline terrain.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Visibility of the surrounding terrain was very limited
Weather: Whiteout conditions mid-day with blowing snow and moderate snowfall rates. Both eased through the afternoon.
Snowpack: About 5″ or 6″ of storm snow in wind-sheltered terrain, with drifts up to 18″ as I climbed into exposed, near treeline slopes with decent-sized fetches. It was easy to trigger numerous shooting cracks while skinning across the top of small, drifted terrain features. Drifts were typically 10″ to 16″ thick soft slabs, breaking on or near the storm interface.
No signs of instability below treeline except for an isolated wind drift in an obviously drifted area. A test pit on an ENE aspect produced a hard, non-propagating failure (ECTN26) on small, rounding facets about 75 cm deep.

Photos:

6050

Feb. 28, 2023

Gothic weather

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: The wind continues to be the predominant weather feature holding steady and strong 10-15 westerly with gusts to 25. Only light but steady snow through the night with 3″ new and water 0.24″. Currently very light snowfall with no visibility and 64″ of snow on the ground as the wind shows no sign of letting up. Ever. Temperatures hold mild with a high of 26F yesterday and low today 14 with the current 16. Lots of snow transport- break a trail and turn around and it is gone. billy

6049

Feb. 28, 2023

Hunter Creek

Date of Observation: 02/27/2023
Name: Ben Pritchett and Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Hunter Creek

Observed avalanche activity: No
Snowpack: The snowpack easily supported the weight of our sleds on most features, on many aspects and elevations. The only places we found a mostly weak snowpack were a) below 9,500′ in the valley bottom, b) a very shallow wind-swept spot on a ridge where we punched through the surface slab, c) and odd patches of weak snow near trees or creeks.
We could not find full-depth faceted areas like what has been reported on the steep-walled valleys on the north side of the Elk Mountains.
We found 140-160cm of snow at valley bottom in middle Cement Creek at 10,200′; 170-190cm near treeline; and up to 300cm in alpine features with cross-loading.
The layer of facets buried around Valentines lurked around 30 to 40cm deep, generally 4-finger stiff. Only where we targeted a shallow-depth south-facing spot did we elicit a hard propagating test result. Otherwise tests did not propagate. We experienced no collapsing or cracking. The slab on this upper-snowpack weak layer was 1-finger to pencil hard in wind-drifted areas, and 4-finger hard in wind-sheltered spots.

Photos:

6047

Feb. 27, 2023

Anthracite Range

Date of Observation: 02/27/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traversed from Ohio Pass through the Playground to the south side of the Anthracite Range to Beaver Ponds, traveling on various aspects to 11,500′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: A few minor loose dry avalanches in the fresh snow. Eric spotted a few small wind slabs in the Whetstone area this morning.
Weather: Mostly cloudy, with a few flurries with minimal accumulation and light winds. About 4″ of new snow past 24 hours.
Snowpack: Hunting for persistent slab issues today in terrain features that might hold weaker or more developed facets in the upper snowpack. Test results on a wind-exposed northerly facing slope near treeline did not produce any notable results (ECTN) on small-grained facets about 2 feet deep. On an east-facing slope near treeline, I got hard, propagating results on a layer of small-grained facets (.3mm, 4F, rounding) about 2 feet deep, below a 4F+ slab. We did not experience any signs of instability throughout the tour, with ski and skinning traffic on similar types of slopes.
Snow surfaces are currently fairly low-density precip particles (~10%) that got moist on the sunniest aspects BTL.

Photos:

6046

Feb. 26, 2023

A visit to the shallowest zone

Date of Observation: 02/26/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Targeting below treeline terrain in the shallowest parts of our forecast area. Looked at the snowpack on various aspects of Red Mountain and Point Lookout to about 9,800′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: An inch or two of new snow fell today. I observed some light drifting on open, below treeline slopes.
Snowpack: I traveled in areas where the snowpack is less than about 4 feet deep. The slab is generally faceted, but I was able to produce one unstable result on deep weak layers (the 12/20 facet layer, below a 4F 80cm slab). The upper snowpack also has weak layers of concern, the largest and most developed is the late January facet layer, which is only buried 25 cm or less. I got a mix of propagating and non-propagating results on this layer, the most reactive results were on an ESE aspect. The slab above that layer is lacking or not well developed in most terrain, but this could be more of an issue with additional snowfall.

Photos:

6045

Feb. 26, 2023

Partial Burial on small isolated bench

Date of Observation: 02/25/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Skinning under a benched ridge line.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Weather: Mostly sunny

Photos:

6043

Feb. 26, 2023

Small wind slab

Date of Observation: 02/25/2023
Name: Rob Strickland

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: PBR

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small wind slab: ATL > east
Weather: Delightful
Snowpack: Deep, calm, and warming

Photos:

6042

Feb. 26, 2023

Looking for recent naturals in the SE Mountains

Date of Observation: 02/25/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Recreational day out Upper Cement Creek/Brush Creek

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One recent natural avalanche on the northeast side of Double Top. The north Bowl on Cement Mountain had debris in the basin but the crown looked well drifted in (see photo). The northeast cirque on Carbon Peak had suspicious-looking crown markings but the photo was inconclusive (see photo).  No other obvious large avalanches were observed looking into SE mountains from the head of Hunter Creek.
Weather: Thin high clouds, mild air temps, and moderate winds above treeline.
Snowpack: Solar aspects became moist at mid to low elevations by the afternoon; some roller ball activity. Recent storm totals settled to around 10-12 inches at the head of Hunter Creek.

Photos:

6041

Feb. 25, 2023

Washington Gulch.

Date of Observation: 02/16/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch. 10,000 to 12,600

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Any old wind slab or storm slab avalanches from last week have been blown back over. No notable natural avalanches stood out.
Weather: Overcast to mostly cloudy with thin high clouds most of the day. Clearing in the later afternoon. Consistent moderate winds above 11,500ft, that also tapered off in the later afternoon.
Snowpack: The alpine consisted of some monster drifts, loaded planner bowls with good-looking snow, and exfoliated crusts. When we moved through old wind slabs they felt stubborn. We avoided the biggest loaded terrain features. In the afternoon snow surfaces on west were moist at 11,000ft. Later noticed roller balls on SW and W from similar elevations and lower. A test pit on a 30-degree west-facing slope at 10,500ft had a layer of NSF down 45cm that produced a hard ECTN result.

6039

Feb. 25, 2023

Beyond Washington Gulch Snocross Track

Date of Observation: 02/25/2023
Name: Andrew Breibart

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch TH-Snowcross course next to the road-standard skin track to First Bowl.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed two small avalanches (D0.5-D1) below cornices on Skooks. These were likely observed in obs from 2/24/23.
Weather: calm in the valley bottom and within the trees with a light wind on the ridge line. Mostly cloudy and temperatures were very warm except on the ridge line in the light wind.
Snowpack: On the lower uptrack observed very small roller balls traveling less than 30 feet on >20 degree slope on one open area. Ventured off the skin track and had no cracking or collapsing. I kicked off very small roller balls that traveled less than 30 feet in this area on open terrain >20 degrees. There was no entrainment of snow from any of the rollerballs.
Riding snow was about 6 inches deep (15 cm deep) on south side of first bowl (NE aspect). Snow was warming quickly. On the ridge, I scraped patches of snow from my skis before the descent.
On the ski out, we talked to two skiers who skied Anthracite Mesa south of Coneys and across from Snodgrass T.H. They said snow clumped up to a few inches on their skis during their descent. They were still scraping snow when we passed them on the skin out.

6038

Feb. 25, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary February 17-23, 2023

The weekly snowpack summary is here. Strong winds and consistent snowfall dominated the week after the warm temps on Saturday 2/19.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Summary February 17 – 23, 2023 copy
Feb. 24, 2023

Slate River

Date of Observation: 02/24/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River. 9,000ft to 11,000ft. NE-E,S.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: None

Weather: Headed out after the morning pulse of wind and snow. Gained Ridgeline around 11am with moderate southwest winds. S-1 to S1 from 10am through mid-day. The snow and wind tapered out in the afternoon.

Snowpack: Traveled cautiously near bigger wind-loaded terrain features. Otherwise skied aggressively with no observed signs of instability. Density changes in the recent storm snow could be observed in small column tests and on wind-loaded test slopes. At 11,000ft a low 34-degree south-facing slope had thick crusts in the upper snowpack, under this past week’s recent snow accumulations.

6037

Feb. 24, 2023

Irwin Cat-Ski explosive control results

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Irwin Cat-Ski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Guides cat-ski tenure.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: SS-AE-R2-D2-I FC (35cm x 40m x 100m)
SS-AE-R1-D1.5-I FC (35cm x 20m x 80m)
SS-AE-R1-D1.5-I FC (35cm x 20m x 60m)
SS-AE-R1-D1-I FC (25cm x 15m x 50m)
Weather:
Snowpack: “Triggered a couple size 2 avalanches out of our east terrain with explosives.”

6035

Feb. 24, 2023

Few naturals from Whetstone and shooting cracks on Emmons

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Hwy 135 obs and tour up sunny side of Mount Emmons.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: While driving to town I got a glimpse of a few naturals in drifted terrain on Whetstone that appeared to only involve the storm snow. Slides pictured are from the Octagon zone (D1.5) and Barcelona Bowl (D2-ish). Brief glimpse of Main Bowl and Hidden Lake basin suggested more activity but the views were too brief to really see what happened.
On Emmons, I observed a few D1.5 naturals in the drifted terrain below the skinner near treeline but never was able to see the crowns below the cornice.
Weather: Cold temps were tolerable at the valley bottom and decreased to unpleasant levels above treeline. Winds above treeline were commonly light to moderate with an occasional strong gust. Snowfall was very light from 10 am to 3 pm, with less than an inch of accumulation. Some snow transport was observed midday loading into easterly terrain.
Snowpack: Storm totals ranged from 10 to 14 inches. In sheltered areas, I did not get any cracking in the storm snow and a test profile site from a northeast feature produced no propagating results in the upper 3 feet of the snowpack. Once I started to find drifted snow near and above treeline, I was able to reliably get cracks to shoot 10 feet but much less reactive than Wednesday. Stomping above and kicking cornices into drifted terrain did not produce any results.

Photos:

6034

Feb. 23, 2023

Collapses in Raccoon Glades

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Dan Hohl

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Toured up skier’s R side of Raccoon Glades. Triggered two loud collapses at 11,100′ on a S facing slope. Dug down approximately 3′ to a near crust facet layer that is the likely culprit behind the failures.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack:

6033

Feb. 23, 2023

Quiet storm snow

Date of Observation: 02/22/2023
Name: Sam Lesnikoski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Standard anthracite’s skin track and ski runs

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: None observed
Weather: Cold. Light wind and snow through out the day tapering by afternoon
Snowpack: Surprisingly little wind effect, minimal ridge top loading. Storm snow was dense with no results in terrain over 35 degrees. Stomping on ridge top windrifts and convexities produced only minor cracking.

6032

Feb. 23, 2023

Persistent slab stirring awake below treeline

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Mt. Emmons, below treeline northerly terrain up to 10,900′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Overcast, light winds in the trees. Light snowfall, with about 3″ since yesterday, bringing settled storm totals up to about a foot.
Snowpack: Skier triggered a large, rumbling collapse that failed on weak facets about 3′ deep. The collapse and shooting cracks wrapped from N to NE aspects around 10,850′ and would have produced a dangerous persistent slab avalanche on a steeper slope. This terrain has seen a fair number of skiers in the past month, and we skinned across the top of it yesterday without any signs of instability.  I suspect this slope had a relatively shallow and weaker snowpack through January due to previous avalanche activity and/or wind erosion from northerly winds.  Minimal cracking in the storm snow today while riding in wind protected terrain.

Photos:

6031

Feb. 23, 2023

Gothic 7 am weather update

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Easily the biggest factor has been the wind, which has been steady around 8-15 mph SW with regular gusts to 25, while there has been substantial drifting and staying cloudy. The 24 hour new snow total is 7½” with water content a very windy-driven dense 0.72″. Currently cloudy though clouds are showing a little ‘sunrise’ breaking here and there with wind holding steady but a bit lighter at times. The snowpack is at 65½” deep and currently no snow for the past couple hours. I believe there is a chance for clear mild weather come June.

6030

Feb. 22, 2023

Exfoliating

Date of Observation: 02/22/2023
Name: Eric Murrow Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Standard Schuylkill Ridge up track from OBJ. 9,000ft to 10,500ft. Primarily NE-E

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a small 12″ storm slab on a NE facing slope below treeline. Skier triggered a couple of small wind slabs on SE and NE near treeline.

Weather: Started out with a blizzard. Then it got kind of nice for an hour. Then the blowing snow became intense and exfoliating as the sun temporarily poked through to say hi. Roller Coaster

Snowpack: New snow was in the 10 to 12″ range. Shortly after the morning blizzard the top couple of inches was reactive as a storm slab and produced some very small natural avalanches BTL. By the time we got into steep terrain those storm slabs had already become less reactive. Nearing ridgeline we started managing and triggering wind slabs. The blowing snow was intense. We triggered another 12″ storm slab on the descent.

Photos:

6029

Feb. 22, 2023

Storm instabilities on Emmons

Date of Observation: 02/22/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Afternoon rec tour on Mount Emmons, generally NE aspects to 11,300′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A pair of natural wind slabs ran today in two of the Climax Chutes, debris ran to the chokes, about 1900′ vert in at least one of them. Couldn’t see the other. Skier triggered a thin storm slab on a steep, sheltered terrain feature, about 6″ thick. Also triggered a sluff that gouged about 18″ deep to the ground through weak facets on a slope that avalanched in January and has since remained shallow and rotting.
Weather: Unpleasant. Significant blowing snow at all elevations, from the southwest where we were. Heavy snowfall around noon fizzled to nil this afternoon. Decreasing temperature trend and some periods of visibility this afternoon after the cold front.
Snowpack: 8″ to 10″ of new snow. There was a mid-storm density change that produced localized cracking in sheltered terrain, and longer shooting cracks in leeward terrain, where drifts were up to 18″ thick where we traveled. There were drifts near ridgeline and near valley bottom.

Photos:

6028

Feb. 22, 2023

Wind Loading BTL on Snodgrass

Date of Observation: 02/22/2023
Name: Sam Ridley

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: I skied from Snodgrass TH out 317 to the 1 mile shots and did laps there and above the road on the way back between 9am and 1pm. I was primarily on N through NE facing BTL terrain.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: There were variable moderate to strong winds, primarily from the SW. Precipitation intensity generally increased throughout the morning, ranging from none to around an inch per hour. There was significant snow transport BTL in less sheltered areas to north facing terrain.
Snowpack: Wind sheltered areas had 6″+ of new snow, which sloughed easily on steeper test slopes but I did not find cohesive slabs in the trees. More open, wind loaded N to NE facing slopes near the road had 1.5’+ new snow, shooting cracks, and were getting deeper, stiffer, and easier to initiate cracks in throughout the morning.

Photos:

6027

Feb. 22, 2023

Gothic 7am Weather Update

Date of Observation: 02/22/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Snow started just before midnight and was steady while light to moderate, with 5½” new and water 0.39″. A steady moderate SW wind overnight. Currently overcast with light snow and 6-10 SW wind gusting to 15 and snow has been drifting. Snowpack is at 61″. Yesterday’s high was a very warm 38F and for today the low is the current 23º. A dense snowfall.

6026

Feb. 21, 2023

Warm and windy on skooks

Date of Observation: 02/21/2023
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Skied thanksgiving bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Guessing cornice fall on scarps ridge near redwell. See crappy iPhone photo. No instabilities noted while skiing.

Weather: Real warm and sunny. Moderate winds at ridge line doing a good job of transporting snow into the skooks shots. Looked like strong winds up high with snow plumes on the higher peaks

Snowpack:

Photos:

6025

Feb. 21, 2023

Natural wind slabs from the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 02/21/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of D1-1.5 wind slabs from the past 24 to 36 hours from above treeline terrain on Axtell, Gothic, and Ruby Range.
Weather: Partly cloudy. Generally light wind drifting with a few periods of moderate transport on some terrain. 2″ to 3″ of new snow in the past 24 hours on Mt. CB.
Snowpack: Near treeline slopes with moderate-sized fetches had fresh drifting overnight, 4″ to 16″ thick, 4F hard, reactive to ski cuts.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
6023

Feb. 20, 2023

Couple more inches of snow and continued blowing snow

Date of Observation: 02/20/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt Emmons E-S-SW. 9,400-11,900ft.

Avalanches: Recent large avalanche in Red Coon Bowl. Best Guess is that it ran on Sunday or early Monday. East aspect 11,800ft. Estimated 1.5 feet deep and 400 feet wide. Blurry iPhone photo attached.

Weather: S1 through the AM hours with 1.5 to 2″ of new snow by noon. NTL elevations had continuous blowing snow with moderate to strong winds during the AM hours. Poor visibility. The weather started to improve in the early afternoon. With better visibility snow plumes could be seen on the higher peaks at times.

Snowpack: Targeted a few areas for another look before we go into the next storm. Since January, the upper snowpack has become layered and more complicated. There are several layers of crusts and facets that could lead to persistent slab avalanche behavior during the upcoming loading event. In the areas I checked around 11,200ft, E and SE aspects were the most concerning for the future PSa issues in the upper 40cm of the snowpack. I didn’t look at any south aspects. The crusts in the upper 40cm of the snowpack on a SW aspect were 2 to 5cm thick and notably stronger than those same interfaces on the SE aspects.

I took another look at the recently triggered avalanche in Red Lady Glades. As previously reported, this avalanche released on a thin layer of facets above a crust. More specifically there was a stack of crusts that likely formed between about February 9th to February 13th. Between these 3 crusts, there are layers of small facets of varying weakness. The avalanche failed in this stack of crusts and ran on the lower of the 3 crusts. Currently, on wind-loaded slopes and during the next loading event, these interfaces look capable of producing persistent slab avalanche activity.

Of other note was the continued blowing snow at NTL elevations through mid-day.

Photos:

6021

Feb. 20, 2023

Ridgeline wind slab

Date of Observation: 02/19/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Toured through calm thick trees on a northeast aspect up to ridgeline where we encountered strong winds from west. Intentionally triggered wind slab by stomping on suspected wind loaded slope.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Wind slab 6-12” thick released above thick trees and wrapped slightly around the corner into main chute.
Weather: Light snow, strong West/Southwest winds at ridge line
Snowpack:

Photos:

6017

Feb. 19, 2023

Wind blown

Date of Observation: 02/19/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Schuylkill Ridge to 11,400’

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few small wind slabs ran today from wind-loaded alpine terrain features (D1-1.5). I skier triggered a 6” wind slab on a drifted near treeline rollover.
Weather: 2” of new snow fell today. Moderate winds started loading mid-afternoon at higher elevations, then strong winds late afternoon started blowing snow at all elevations. Late afternoon winds were so strong that they appeared to be blowing snow into the atmosphere rather than loading.
Snowpack: Traveled near and below treeline looking for wind slab formation and found a few soft drifts up to 6” that produced cracking. I tested the 2/13 interface on NE and SE aspects and found no failures or concerning-looking structures. We skied steep terrain with only minor sluffing.

Photos:

6015

Feb. 19, 2023

Little Lady Surprise

Date of Observation: 02/19/2023
Name: Chris Martin

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: We traveled up the classic Red Lady skin track out for an adventure seeing where mother nature would allow us. Strong winds slowed us up at tree-line on the corniced ridge. We created many options for our group today, including but not limited to any specific descent.

At tree-line, we traversed over to above Little Lady Bowl preparing for our descent. We arrived at the mouth to regroup before traveling the ridgeline, here, a few members of our group felt a callapse. As we traveled along with bowls ridgeline in sub 20 degree terrain we regrouped and noticed a SE pocket remote triggered. We investigated the slide before descending our favorite red lady glades lap becasue is was our plan D and the safest descent for the day.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Little Lady Bowl SE – 38* – 11200′ – D2 – R2

Failed on: 1mm FC above a 2cm crust fragile crust
Down 35cm
Weather: Moderate to strong gusts out of the W
Partly cloudy & OVC
Precip: S-2
Snowpack: Crusts observed at snows surface and below recent storms snow. We observed a 2cm crust below two previous storm/wind transported snow events. The avalanche seemed to step down into two recent events.

Photos:

6014

Feb. 18, 2023

Strong Winds + Intense Snow Transport NTL + ATL

Date of Observation: 02/18/2023
Name: jeff banks

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Poop Loop looking at Whetstone + Cement Creek

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Strong NW Winds NTL + ATL
Lenticular clouds over Cement Creek zone
Snowpack: Intense Snow Transport NTL + ATL

Photos:

6011

Feb. 18, 2023

Closer look at the Carbonate Hill persistent slab

Date of Observation: 02/18/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek to Hunter Hill to Carbonate Hill, various aspects to 12,700′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing new today. Got a closer look at the large (D2.5) persistent slab reported by Ben yesterday. I estimate the crown was up to 5 feet thick and pencil hard, based on debris chunks. Hard to say what weak layer it failed on, it looks like the bedsurface is a very hard windboard layer, and there were several layers of the wind board onion that peeled off further downslope.
Weather: Few to scattered clouds. Moderate winds above 12,000′ caused light wind drifting in a few areas.
Snowpack: No signs of instability except I triggered a couple of tiny 1″-2″ wind slabs that were forming from today’s blowing snow. I targeted a shallow area on a SE-facing slope above treeline and got hard, propagating results on depth hoar near the ground below a 90 cm, 1F slab. A couple of tests near and above treeline produced non-propagating failures in the recent wind slabs and no failures on the storm interface. There’s about 3 to 5″ of settled storm snow below treeline that’s been redistributed by northerly winds near and above treeline.

Photos:

6010

Feb. 17, 2023

Schuylkill Ridge

Date of Observation: 02/17/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Up Schuylkill Ridge via OBJ skintrack.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D2 natural farther down the ridge on the SE side. Ran within last 48hrs presumably on sun crust storm interface.
Weather: Sun with thin clouds, no wind.
Snowpack: Did get one planar result from hasty hand shear on similar aspect/elevation as observed natural avalanche at storm snow interface (2/15) on small facets 1cm above sun crust.

Photos:

6008

Feb. 17, 2023

GMT course obs- Gothic CG to Top of the World

Date of Observation: 02/17/2023
Name: Zach Kinler and Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Top of the World down to Gothic CG and back. 9,600′-11,500′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed a couple of small wet loose avalanches running from rocky, steep south-facing terrain near Mt. Bellview around 12:00 pm. D1 in size.
Weather: Clear skies and calm winds. Below zero temps at the trailhead in the morning gave way to temps at or just above freezing once out of the inversion in the valley floor.
Snowpack: We traveled primarily on slopes facing E-SE-S along the GMT course. No signs of instability were observed underfoot. Open areas near tree line had variable thin wind crusts while sheltered areas were lightly faceted and soft. Snow surfaces on SE and S slopes were moist by midday. HS on an east-facing slope at 10,100 was 185cm. A profile of the upper snowpack on this slope produced 1 hard propagating result and 1 non-propagating result in an ECT on the late January interface. This interface was a thin, 4-finger hard facet layer below a 1-finger slab.

 

6007

Feb. 17, 2023

Friends Hut Zone

Date of Observation: 02/16/2023
Name: Ben Ammon

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Pearl Pass down to Friends Hut

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 1x D1.5 windslab E aspect Star Peak ran during day 2/15 when winds were out of East (no pic, sorry)
1x D2.5 windslab that stepped down in the rocky break over in several spots, SE aspect of Carbonate (pic attached) Failed during the early AM hours of 2/16
1x D1 Glide slab just above East River, below 4th Bowl (one finally went! Pic attached)
Weather: 2/15 moderate winds out of the East all day, low to no vis, high temps below zero on Pearl Pass
2/16 strong NW winds starting shortly after dark on 2/15, tons of scouring and transport leaving every surface NTL/ATL wind affected, as well as any BTL area not in thick trees. Large plumes (see photo of Pearl Pass) and significant transport on all terrain in the zone (Pearl Pass, Star, Crystal, Carbonate, Timbered Hill) High temp of 4*F at Friends Hut
2/17 Subzero but calm (finally!) and warmed significantly during the day.
Snowpack: A variety of small windslabs that failed during the night of 2/15 or day of 2/16, generally SE aspects, the large Carbonate was the only one of note. Many were partially filled in by the time we made it out skiing on 2/16

Photos:

6006

Feb. 17, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary February 10-16, 2023

The weekly summary is here. The weekend brought high pressure and great riding to the valley and a multi-day storm from Monday through Wednesday dumped 2+ feet. A variety of wind directions produced tricky wind slab conditions leading into this weekend.

Weekly Summary February 10 – 16, 2023 COMPRESSED
Feb. 17, 2023

Large natural wind slab, a bit too close for comfort

Date of Observation: 02/17/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mineral Point, targeting wind slab instabilities on east to south aspects to 11,600′. Our plan was to cross under the south face of Mineral early morning before it got too warm. After several delays this morning (2 dead car batteries!), we didn’t cross beyond the most exposed sunbaked terrain until 11 a.m., which in hindsight, was cutting it too close for the type of terrain that we were on.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A large natural wind slab released off the south face of Mineral around 11:15 a.m., triggered by solar warming or perhaps a very tiny wet loose. The debris washed over part of our skin track that we had set an hour earlier.
Evidence of a widespread storm slab cycle in the Slate during the storm, along with numerous wind slabs in Poverty Gulch that ran after the storm, likely during yesterday’s northerly winds, up to D2 in size. See photos.
Weather: Clear, calm winds. Rapid warming; Double puffy snowmobile ride (-20F at TH), down to sun shirts once we started skinning. At one point, I looked over and my partner’s bare butt was showing, frantically trying to remove his long underwear. haha.
Snowpack: North winds did a lot of damage in Poverty Gulch, with wind slab formation scattered across all elevations. Wind slabs are easy to recognize: smooth, stiff snow (6″ to 12″ thick, 4F to 1F) below rollovers and in gullies, in contrast to softer, rippled sastrugi elsewhere. Wind slab feedback was stubborn underfoot. I snowmobiled and ski stomped on over half a dozen suspect wind-loaded rollovers without any signs of instability or cracking. However, I could produce cracks up to 5 feet while stomping on slopes undercut by the skin track. I also got easy test results on wind-drifted slopes (ECTP1, ECTPV). All of the wind slabs in this area, and my test results, failed on a low-density precip particle layer (non-persistent). Tests on the 2/13 storm interface were unreactive. I tested an east-facing slope near treeline which had a thin crust above facets at the storm interface.

Photos:

6005

Feb. 17, 2023

Snodgrass Slide – First Bowl

Date of Observation: 02/16/2023
Name: Garrett Eggers

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Skied the shoulder between first and second bowl on 2/16. Noticed a fairly wide crown through the trees on a NE aspect in first bowl that appeared to have entrained only the new snow. Probably ran naturally sometime on 2/15.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes

Photos:

6004

Feb. 16, 2023

Carbon Peak Eastern Chutes

Date of Observation: 02/16/2023
Name: Andrew Payton

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: ESE chutes directly above Carbon Creek / CR737

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Two avalanches observed on narrow and very steep east facing chutes on Carbon Peak around 130 pm. They ran about ½ mi / 1600’ vertical. I was cross country skiing up FR563 when I heard the long rumbles about 10 mins apart.

Weather: Sunny, 10 degrees

Photos:

6003

Feb. 16, 2023

small wind slabs

Date of Observation: 02/16/2023
Name: Rob Strickland

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: RL to RLB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Knocked the small cornice off the summit which produced a small slough and tiny slab… the wind was coming quickly from Redwell and building a small cornice on the south side at this time (730)… while skiing a small slab released naturally from the summit. Lower in the bowl another small slab was released on a steeper rollover.
No one was caught.
Slab size 2 – 4″ deep. maybe 50′ wide. D 0.5

Weather: Sunny & COLD

Photos:

6002

Feb. 16, 2023

Thicker snow and quiet on the avalanche front

Date of Observation: 02/16/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mount Axtell north 9,500-11,500. Evan’s Basin E-SE 9,500-11,300.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Looking out from Axtell I just noted a few old, small avalanches near ridgelines. Nothing notable stood out.

Red Lady Bowl looked to have a small wind slab that may have run today, otherwise, it was from yesterday.

One more small wind slab to add onto ZG’s ob that probably ran today in the Whetstone Group. East, 12,000ft.

Weather: Clear and cold. Snow plumes off the high peaks at times throughout the day, becoming more continuous in the afternoon.

Snowpack: On Mt Axtell, the upper snowpack had become notably stiffer when compared to yesterday, from the cold temperatures and previous wind effects. We skied steep slopes to around 40 degrees and didn’t encounter any storm slab avalanche problems. Sluffing was also minimal. Ski quality had decreased from yesterday, but was still good. Recent wind loading patterns are all over the place and not following a specific trend given all the variations in wind direction we have seen. Wind slab travel advice would have been more appropriate than a widespread storm slab avalanche problem today.

Over in Evan’s Basin, the conditions were similar. I didn’t encounter any unstable snow on this quick trip. Wind slab travel advice would have also been more appropriate in that terrain. I targeted a couple of test profiles on east and northeast-facing slopes to look at the 2/13 interface. On a 38-degree east-facing slope at 10,500ft, the 2/13 interface didn’t produce any results and didn’t look very concerning. On a cross-loaded 35-degree NE-facing slope at 11,000ft the 2/13 interface also didn’t produce any test results. Those small facets at the interface were still something to keep an eye on. The density change in the storm snow did produce test results, but snowmobiling through many steep test slopes didn’t produce any signs of instability.

Photos:

6001

Feb. 16, 2023

Whetstone wind slabs

Date of Observation: 02/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Whetstone, viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of natural slab avalanches above treeline that ran during the storm, appear to be wind slabs ~D1.5

Photos:

6000

Feb. 15, 2023

Elkton Knob descent of the Gothic Mountain Tour observations

Date of Observation: 02/15/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate TH on snowmo’s to Pittsburg. Tour along the Gothic Mountain Tour descent route off Elkton Knob.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Handful of small, natural avalanches failing midstorm depth. Remotely triggered three small avalanches on drifted terrain features at 10,900 feet, avalanches failed at the mid-storm interface.
Weather: Light snowfall and light winds in this area. Settled storm total of 17″ at 10,000 feet near Pittsburg and only about 10″ at the Slate River trailhead.
Snowpack: The storm snow was generally stubborn to human triggers in sheltered areas as the strong precipitation rates had ended before we were in the terrain but cracking up to a ski length was common. Drifted slopes remained very sensitive at the mid-storm interface into the afternoon and up to 2 feet thick. Digging into the west-facing slopes at the bottom of the Elkton Knob descent I found a facet/crust weak layer beneath the storm snow that was unreactive in snowpack tests and to human triggers (see photo). The slab above is not big enough in sheltered areas to collapse the underlying crust BUT could be on drifted terrain or in the future with further loading events. The drifted southwest-facing slope, at 10,900 feet, where I was able to remotely trigger small avalanches has a very strong crust, around 6 inches thick, below the storm snow.

Photos:

5998

Feb. 15, 2023

Small storm slabs and sore hip flexors

Date of Observation: 02/15/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: AMR. 10,000ft to 11,500ft. N-E.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Fairly widespread natural storm slab cycle that likely occurred during the early AM hours. All small or D1 in size.

Weather: Headed out at 8:30 am and snowfall was tapering off over the next few hours. Mostly S1 to S-1 through that period. Mostly light winds with some moderate gusts out of the E-SE.

Snowpack: HST was ~50cm at 10,000ft. There was a notable density change in the storm snow that was responsible for all the avalanche activity that I was able to look closely at. In areas without notable wind-loading that weak layer was down anywhere from 10 to 30cm depending on elevation and how close to the Kebler Pass Trailhead. In the morning the storm slab avalanche problem was reactive, then by mid-day, it was becoming less reactive and trending towards stubborn.

Around 11,000ft there was notable previous drifting from the south side of the ridge to the north side of the ridge. Skinning on the south side of the ridge you were either walking on the old crusty snow surface or through thick wind wales.

Photos:

5997

Feb. 15, 2023

Storm slabs on Mt. Emmons

Date of Observation: 02/15/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Mt. Emmons, traveling on northeasterly aspects below treeline.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a few thin storm slabs breaking on a density change mid-storm, D1 in size. Also observed several natural storm slabs that ran overnight, same character and size.
Weather: Light snowfall and light easterly winds both tapered to nil by this afternoon.
Snowpack: Storm total was up to 12″ on the small-grained near surface facet interface. There was a pronounced density increase in the storm snow that happened mid-storm, which was the source of today’s problems. Slabs cracking on this mid-storm weak layer ranged from 3″ to 8″ thick, depending on elevation. Higher elevations approaching treeline were more reactive.

Photos:

5996

Feb. 15, 2023

Gothic weather update

Date of Observation: 02/15/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: The wind is the dominant factor as it makes things look (and feel) worse than they are. The heaviest snow was in a short period after dark but there was light snowfall yesterday afternoon and snowing most of the night with the 24 hour totals 4½” and water of 0.34″. Wind was stronger after midnight with steady 5-10 SW wind gusting to 20. Nothing massive on the wind but consistently irritating. Currently overcast with moderate SW wind and very light snowfall and the snowpack at 59″. billy

5995

Feb. 14, 2023

Powentine’s Day

Date of Observation: 02/14/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Afternoon tour in the Anthracites, poked around on a variety of aspects to 11,500′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a couple of thin soft slabs near wind drifted ridgelines, ~6″ thick, small in size. Also some shallow sluffing on very steep, below treeline terrain.
Weather: Moderate snowfall rates. Light winds where we traveled with evidence of stronger winds in other locations. Overcast skies.
Snowpack: Storm total was 6″ at Ohio Pass and up to 10″ at the top of AMR, low density, cohesionless snow. There was just enough wind drifting to add cohesion and form isolated soft slabs near ridgetop, still fist hard, but propagating 20 feet. I also produced localized cracking 2 to 4 feet under skis in drifted areas. Otherwise, the new snow sluffed underfoot on slopes steeper than about 38 or 40 degrees.

Photos:

5993

Feb. 14, 2023

Touchy new interface

Date of Observation: 02/14/2023
Name: John M

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Axtell 1st bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Touchy interface with new snow
Weather: Overcast with light snow becoming heavier in early pm
Snowpack: Sloughing new snow from interface in new / old snow. Otherwise quiet

Photos:

5992

Feb. 13, 2023

Surface obs before the storm

Date of Observation: 02/13/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: East Beckwith, traveled on SE to NE aspects to 11,600′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a small sluff that gouged into old snow on a very steep, rocky face with a shallow snowpack.
Weather: Clouds increased late morning from clear to overcast. Light snowfall began around 1 p.m. along with periods of snow transport from moderate south winds.
Snowpack: The snow surface is faceted on colder aspects: anything north of ESE. Like our January layer, the weak layer on our snow surface isn’t large and well-developed, but could cause storm instabilities to be more sensitive or persist a little while longer than normal. On due east and east-southeast aspects, there is a thin crust (.5 to 3 cm) above small-grained facets (.5-1 mm), with dry, small-grained facets above the crust (.5 mm). On anything north of due east, the crust is lacking, just small-grained facets (.5-.75mm). On southeast and south, the crust is thicker and I didn’t observe any facets above it. As we gained elevation, surfaces are more variable from wind effects and facets are less widespread, with more fragmented and rounded grains from previous wind damage. Snow surfaces are weakest near steep and rocky terrain where the snowpack is shallower.

Photos:

5991

Feb. 12, 2023

Purple Ridge

Date of Observation: 02/12/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River TH to Purple Ridge skinner up to 11, 700 feet.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: none observed.
Weather: Low-level clouds in the morning gave way to high, thin clouds in the afternoon. Mild air temps and light winds.
Snowpack: A skiff of new snow overnight along the Ruby Spine – 1cm or less than a 1/2 inch. I toured around looking at the current snow surface in preparation for the incoming snowy weather. Slopes on the north half of the compass in sheltered areas have very light faceting near the surface but are small in size and do not appear to be all that problematic for the incoming snow. The south half of the compass developed crusts. The surface on a steep south slope at 11,200 feet had around 4 inches of wet snow resting above an old melt/freeze crust. Crusts slowly thin as you transition to due east. Some near treeline slopes facing east had a dusting of new snow that remained dry resting above a thin, melt/freeze crust or windboard. Most sunny features I encountered warmed enough today to glue the dusting of new snow to the underlying crust.
I was able to stomp on a few older, wind drifts near and below treeline without any signs of instability or cracking.

Photos:

5990

Feb. 12, 2023

El Presidente

Date of Observation: 02/12/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Schuylkill Peak area to 11,800’ on SE to NE aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A small cornice fall in the past 24 hours. Minor skier triggered sluffs in extreme terrain.
Weather: Cloud cover decreased mid morning. Mild temps. Calm winds.
Snowpack: No signs of instability or evidence of avalanche problems. 1cm of low density snow fell last night without wind, which could facet or be a layer of concern with the next storm. Below that, surfaces are generally DF’s or wind packed rounds in wind affected terrain, some small grained faceting in wind sheltered northerly terrain, and melt freeze crusts on anything on the south half of the compass. Very steep and rocky terrain has weaker and more developed facets, occasionally unsupportive to boot or ski pen.

Photos:

5989

Feb. 12, 2023

West Brush Creek

Date of Observation: 02/12/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Brush Creek TH to West Brush Creek via snomo. Tour around easterly terrain in the Union Chutes area.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: none observed
Weather: Mild temperatures, light winds, with thin, high clouds limiting solar radiation during the warmest portion of the day.
Snowpack: Snow depth ranged from 140 to 160 cm (10,000 – 11,700 feet). In sheltered areas, the soft slab above the January facets faceted away for the most part. Deeper weak layers from December and November continue to present poor structure but did not produce notable test results. East facing-facing slopes near and below treeline developed a 1 cm melt/freeze crust from recent warm weather. The steepest northerly features produced minor dry sluffing in the upper snowpack while skiing.

Drifts from the northerly wind event left scattered hard slabs on the south half of the compass. The recipe for trouble appeared to be sunny slopes with a large northerly fetch to gather snow from…features without a large fetch did not look concerning.

Photos:

5988

Feb. 11, 2023

Small Avalanche on Snodgrass 2nd Bowl

Date of Observation: 02/11/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass 2nd Bowl via skin track out of Tuttle Cabins

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small avalanche at the top of 2nd bowl
Weather: mostly sunny with increasing high clouds. Temperature estimate of 15F
Snowpack:

Photos:

5987

Feb. 11, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary, February 3rd – 9th, 2023

The weekly snowpack summary is here.  A relatively quiet week highlighted by warming temperatures last weekend and a cold front with strong winds midweek.

Feb. 10, 2023

A few human triggered wind slabs

Date of Observation: 02/10/2023
Name: Evan Ross and Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ruby Peak area, traveling on south to east aspects near and above treeline.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier and snowmobile triggered a handful of small wind slabs on drifted features near treeline. Crowns ranged from 4″ to 12″ thick. They were stiff enough to break above you (generally 4F, some pockets of 1F).

Weather: Light northerly winds with no transport. Warming temps, clear skies.

Snowpack: Surfaces near and above treeline are wind affected by the recent wind event. Wind slab formation is fairly easy to identify; most terrain is soft, rippled sastrugi posing no hazard, while concave terrain features and steep rollovers have stiffer, smoother pockets of drifted snow that were sensitive to ski and snowmobile cuts. Observed some rollerballs on sunny aspects, but were back at the trailhead mid-day before things warmed up too much.

Photos:

5984

Feb. 09, 2023

Wind Slabs Stepping Down

Date of Observation: 02/09/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Hunter Creek. 10,000ft to 12,000ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: In Upper Hunter Creek and Brush Creek. All three recent avalanches below have seen recent wind-loading and they all have massive fetches.

The first wind-loaded test slope I put a track on, produced a result that slightly displaced a small wind slab. This slab didn’t push over the stauchwall. The crown was 4 inches to 2 feet thick and failed on a non-persistent density chance.

The next test slope was slightly steeper and connected to a much bigger wind-loaded slope. South, 11,800ft. A wind slab released in the upper snowpack, before stepping down into a couple of different more deeply buried weak layers. The resulting avalanche was large in size. The crown height ranged from 1 foot to an estimated 4 or 5 feet. In the section of the crown I could access, the avalanche released on a thin layer of small facets that were atop what looked like an old wind-board. This was about 10cm below the only crust in the upper snowpack. In another area, this avalanche stepped down to the lower half of the snowpack before further gouging to the ground.

Got a closer look at the previously reported natural avalanche near the top of Hunter Creek. South, 12,000ft. This avalanche appeared to fail similarly to the avalanche described above. The upper crown failed between P-hard snow above K-hard snow. The knife-hard snow had dust blown in on it from the ridge. Like the avalanche above, there appeared to be a thin layer of small faceted grains at this interface. There was 80 to 90cm of snow below the bed surface in the upper crown. Lower down on the slope there were two areas where the avalanche stepped down to near the ground. The upper crown height ranged from 2 feet to around 5 feet.

East, 12,000ft near Timbered Hill. I couldn’t see this avalanche well. It looked like a wind slab that released in the upper snowpack. D1.5. However, it could have been a deeper crown that has been refilling in the last couple of days. I’d estimate it ran around a similar time as the other natural avalanche in upper Hunter Creek.

Weather: Partly Cloudy. Moderate to strong northerly winds at 12,000ft.

Snowpack: Nice soft snow surfaces at lower elevations. I didn’t spend time noting where surface crusts had formed on sunny lower-elevation slopes. At upper elevations, there are still a few places with nice soft snow surfaces, but the majority of the terrain had wind-boards and hard slabs.

Photos:

5983

Feb. 09, 2023

Red Lady Bowl

Date of Observation: 02/08/2023
Name: Tad Barnes

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Bowl, Standard approach

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D1- Redwell scarp ridge side
D1- Lookers right of Red Lady bowl gulley

Weather: OVC

Snowpack: Wind crusty in spots. 3 in wind slabs above treeline by skin track that were reactive to skier weight.

Photos:

5982

Feb. 08, 2023

Cement Mountain and a recent natural avalanche

Date of Observation: 02/08/2023
Name: Zach Kinler and Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek trailhead up the looker’s left ridge of Horse Basin to Cement Mountain.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Spotted 1 large persistent slab avalanche in the upper Hunter Creek drainage on a South aspect above treeline, likely running in the last 24 hours. This slope has a very large fetch and has been loading during our recent NW winds.
Weather: Overall a fairly cold day with intermittent clouds and sun. Winds were generally light but moderate gusts began around 1:00 pm.
Snowpack: No signs of instability underfoot from valley bottom to the ridgeline and on a few drifted slopes near treeline while skinning and stomping. Snowpack depths ranged from 70cm at the lowest elevations to 130 cm at 11,700. The slab below treeline is mostly faceted with just enough support to hold up the boots. Above 11,000′ the midpack has a bit of 1 finger slab with the upper 60cm faceted. The early season weak layer at the bottom of the snowpack is 4 fingers and rounding. A profile on a slightly drifted east aspect at 11,700′ produced no results twice and failed on the isolation of the column once. The latter result was a bit surprising, not something I would expect to find across the majority of the terrain.

 

[/gravityforms]
5977

Feb. 07, 2023

the sun is hot

Date of Observation: 02/07/2023
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: anthracites

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: cold in the shade, hot in the sun. Calm winds
Snowpack: Enjoyed southerly skiing in the morning, sunday night’s storm snow had settled but not yet gone thermal on a crust that was supportive to skis but not to poles. By the afternoon the sun had done its thing to the new southerly snow. First skin glopping of the winter.

Evidence of the wind event really just at ridgelines, north facing snow from sunday night was as yet undisturbed and cold.

5976

Feb. 07, 2023

Just some sluffing in the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 02/07/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Daisy Pass to Hancock Peak to 12,400′, traveled mostly on NE and SW aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of small loose avalanches ran on steep southwest aspects as the snow surface got moist, and we triggered some small sluffs as well. Spotted one natural soft slab (D1) that ran from a drifted near treeline slope during the recent storm.
Weather: Clear skies, calm winds.
Snowpack: Went hunting for feedback on the wind slab problem and couldn’t really find any, apart from minor cracking below an alpine ridge. Evidence of wind effect and previous wind transport in the recent snow was less than expected. The strong pre-storm southwest winds late on Sunday formed wind crusts and wind board across most terrain before the snow fell, which appears to have effectively destroyed the faceted storm interface. Ski cuts on suspect terrain were unproductive. There’s about 5″ to 8″ of soft, settled powder on northerly aspects available for transport if northerly winds increase tomorrow.

Photos:

5974

Feb. 07, 2023

Schuylkill sluffs

Date of Observation: 02/07/2023
Name: Josh Jones

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Schuylkill Ridge NE

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Saw and triggered a few small loose sluffs on steep rollovers.
Snowpack: Probed at 10400 on a NE sheltered aspect, 175 CM.

Photos:

5973

Feb. 06, 2023

Skier triggered wind slab on Emmons

Date of Observation: 02/06/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mount Emmons to 11,800′ on SE, E, and NE aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Unintentionally ski triggered a small wind slab, about 10″ thick. I was hunting for wind slabs below a leeward ridgeline with unproductive ski cuts, but further down the slope than expected, a small pocket popped while I was skiing.  Some folks at the trailhead reported triggering shallow soft slabs in Elk Creek area as well.
Weather: Cold, partly cloudy, a few brief flurries, and light to moderate northwest winds lightly drifting snow on ridgelines.
Snowpack: About 3″ to 4″ of new snow had been redistributed by southwest winds near and above treeline, with a bit of drifting shifting to northwest today. HS ranged from 180 to 210 cm near treeline where I probed. Also checked out a wind protected, northeast facing path that avalanched to near the ground in January. There, the snowpack was unusually shallow (HS 60 to 80cm in a few handpits), but the persistent slab structure appeared to be lacking the slab (snowfall after the avy has subsequently faceted), the original basal weak layer, or both. The most recent slab-forming event (late Jan) was unreactive in stability tests and while skiing steep terrain up to 40 degrees.

Photos:

5972

Feb. 06, 2023

Wet Slides on Death Pass

Date of Observation: 02/05/2023
Name: Chris Read

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Brush Creek to Friends Hut

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 2 wet slides on Death Pass. Occurred sometime between 9:45 and 3:30.
Weather: Sunny, warm, windy
Snowpack: Sun effected, wet

5970

Feb. 06, 2023

Gothic Weather report

Date of Observation: 02/06/2023
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite obs

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Snow started near midnight and continued generally light until around 5 a.m. with 3½” new and water of 0.30″. Snowfall was moderate density but wind driven so the measured amount is dense. Currently cloudy, windy and mild with the low 15F after a high yesterday of 43F. billy

5968

Feb. 05, 2023

Ruby Range deep and quiet

Date of Observation: 02/05/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate TH to Poverty Gulch on sled. Tour into upper Poverty Gulch between Augusta and Purple

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A couple of loose avalanches from steep sunny features from recent days, small size.
Weather: Thin, high cloud cover turned into partly cloudy skies as the cloud deck lowered. Obvious increase in wind speeds in the PM. Blowing snow was frequent at the highest elevations during the afternoon, but actual loading and thin slab formation looked pretty isolated.
Snowpack: Toured around easterly aspects from 9,800 to 12,200 feet. Snowpack test on drifted alpine slope produced no results. Surfaces near and above treeline remain dry on west through north through east aspects or in the warmest shoulder aspect locations… fragile, soft crusts. The south half of the compass developed crusts 2 – 3 cm thick on steep slopes. The exception to this was sunny terrain with dry fetches nearby…these start zones had two thinner melt/freeze crusts from warming and drifting over recent days (like the test profile in photos). Slope scale sunnies at all elevations no longer seem as concerning for avalanches to break at the old storm interface now that crusts will remain frozen and presumably buried by the incoming storm.
We observed numerous aggressive ski/snowboard lines on north through east through south slopes over the past few days in this area without incident.

Photos:

5967

Feb. 04, 2023

Top of Zachary’s

Date of Observation: 02/04/2023
Name: Daniel Hogan

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Traveled up Copper Creek to get to gain the saddle above Zachary’s and continued up towards to check out the other side of the ridge. Skied down a bit to dig a pit just to looker’s left of the Zachary’s entrance with ETCP23 results that failed on the depth hoar layer around 30 cm above the ground surface.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lots of small wet loose slides on south-southwest aspects.
Weather: Cool in the north/western protected valley, clear, between -12 to -5 C over the day.
Snowpack: Snow held up on north facing slopes, but had an inch or so crust in the sunny areas or anything that had a hint of a south facing aspect. Small runnels from melt water were visible on these south facing slopes.

Photos:

5966

Feb. 03, 2023

Recent natural in Evan’s Basin

Date of Observation: 02/03/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Evan’s Basin

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Large natural slab avalanche out of Evan’s Basin. Guessing it ran yesterday (2/2)

Photos:

5965

Feb. 03, 2023

Not happy about southerlies

Date of Observation: 02/03/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Toured on southerly and northerly aspects from Scarp Ridge to Schuylkill Ridge through Peeler and OBJ basins.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several small wet loose avalanches and a pair of soft slabs (~D1.5) on steep, sunbaked slopes that all appeared fresh in the past day or so, best guess is yesterday afternoon, based on the pattern of rollerballs associated with the slides. Also documented a handful of large slabs that ran during the last storm.
Weather: Strong inversion. Warm temps and strong sunshine on sunny slopes, just a few thin clouds. Calm winds.
Snowpack: Today’s goal was to cover ground and test a number of suspect slopes near and above treeline. Unfortunately, we are still getting consistent propagating results on the buried near surface facets and faceted crusts about two feet deep on all south and southeast slopes that we tested near treeline. These typically failed after additional loading steps (30 to 35 taps). I got non-propagating fractures on two pits on northerly aspects; one targeting a heavily drifted terrain feature above treeline adjacent to a large crown from the last storm (the slab was pencil hard). The other was a moderately drifted slope near treeline, 4F slab. I did not experience signs of instability underfoot except some rollerballs and pinwheels on sunny aspects.

Photos:

5964

Feb. 02, 2023

Snodgrass crown investigation

Date of Observation: 02/02/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass front side.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A suspected remotely triggered avalanche and an adjacent ‘other’ avalanche. Maybe sympathetic maybe natural??
Weather: Clear skies, mild temperatures, and light winds.
Snowpack: I went to investigate the snowpack structure in an avalanche observation submitted on the morning of 2/2 ( original observation – https://cbavalanchecenter.org/solo-snod-surprise/ ). While driving to the Snodgrass TH, I observed another avalanche adjacent to the one reported. My observation comes from the looker’s right avalanche, not the one with the track next to it. This avalanche failed on a facet/crust layer in the middle of the snowpack; the total depth was around 3 feet with a 16-inch deep crown. I am uncertain of the exact interface date, but it was certainly prior to 1/27 which is the date for the last storm interface. Test results in two nearby places produced ECTN moderate and unstable ECTP 9 results. I think part of the avalanche failed above the crust and part of it failed below the crust. The bed surface was hard to make sense of due to warm temperatures from yesterday and the wet surface snow in the bed surface while I was on site around 2pm on Thursday. While exiting the crown site, I collapsed a portion of the hangfire, but it did not avalanche…likely due to lower slope angles. Sunny slopes in this area were wet in the top 2 inches of snow with another inch of moist snow below that.

Photos:

5962

Feb. 02, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2023

The weekly snowpack summary is here. Over 2 feet of snow fell between Friday and Monday. High winds on Monday added to the new load and a natural avalanche cycle ensued. High pressure moved in by the week’s end.

Weekly Summary January 27 – February 2, 2023 COMPRESSED
Feb. 02, 2023

The marmot saw his shadow today at Cement Creek

Date of Observation: 02/02/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Various aspects of Cement Creek, out to Tilton Pass to 12,000′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing today. A handful of D1 to D2 slab avalanches that likely ran during the most recent storm, all breaking in the upper snowpack and on near and above treeline slopes where there was wind drifting.
Weather: Beautiful day. Clear skies, light wind, inverted temps this morning.
Snowpack: Rode on more than a dozen small steep test slopes, mostly below treeline and a few drifted features near treeline without any signs of instability under the sled. Several stability tests suggest the most recent storm snow is unreactive in wind protected terrain. On a drifted south-facing slope, I got unstable results on a crust/facet layer about 45-50 cm deep under a 4F slab. One test in a shallow area (HS 85cm) produced a non-propagating failure on large-grained facets near the ground. Snow depths ranged from 80 cm at the trailhead to over 200 cm in the upper basin.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
5959

Feb. 02, 2023

Solo Snod Surprise

Date of Observation: 02/01/2023
Name: Curtis B

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Southeast flanks of Snodgrass – we traveled along the low angle corridor of the cutoff trail

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Came across a set of solo ski tracks coming from the direction of the standard skin track: from the looks of it, the skier started descending one of the steep, south facing pitches above the Snodgrass trail and made a quick course correction after a large pocket released just to the skier’s left.
Weather: Sunny, high temp in low 20s
Snowpack: ~20cm of (now compacting) snow from the recent storm cycle, on top of the 1/27 interface. New snow was getting dense & warm on S. Facing terrain

Photos:

5958

Feb. 02, 2023

Cascade Tour

Date of Observation: 02/02/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Poverty Gulch to sunny side of Cascade and lap through Camo Glades.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed a couple more natural avalanches from the last cycle on south and southeast slopes below treeline (a 1cm melt/freeze crust was present below the storm snow on a slope below the south-facing avalanche). A couple very small natural loose avalanches ran from steep rocky areas on south side of the compass.
Weather: Clear skies, cold temps at valley bottom but mild temps above the inversion zone. Light northwest winds with occasional gusting. I observed a small bit of drifting off the highest terrain.
Snowpack: Snow surfaces warmed and became moist in the top 1.5 inches. Shaded slopes below treeline held around a 20 of recent snow; the slab remains very soft outside of wind-affected areas and did not produce any cracking on a steep sheltered slope. On a drifted near treeline features, I was able to get a small hunk of snow to break at the storm interface after significant stomping. It felt like there could be some drifted features capable of producing a large slab avalanche and a lesser chance for much smaller slabs in sheltered areas.

Photos:

5957

Feb. 01, 2023

Taylor Park Slide

Date of Observation: 02/01/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: North Northwest at 10,500’

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered slide in shallow old growth forest with moderately spaced trees. Slope angle was 40* on a North Northwest slope at 10,500’. Crown was 3’-4’ and the snowpack had about 18 inches of depth hoar with another 18 to 24 inches of powder on top of it. Bed surface was at the ground.
Weather: Clear and cold.
Snowpack:

Photos:

5956

Feb. 01, 2023

Red Lady Bowl Rollover

Date of Observation: 02/01/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard red lady bowl, skied skiers left of main bowl then cut far left down through the lower bowl.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered on a steep rollover which was fairly loaded up. My track was the 5th or 6th track on the feature before it went. The crown looked to be around 2ft.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5955

Jan. 31, 2023

Mount Baldy tour and lingering issues at storm interface

Date of Observation: 01/31/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch Road to southern end of Mount Baldy.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several natural avalanches were observed on drifted terrain in the Ruby Range. Slabs did not break deeply and appeared to just involve the snowfall since 1/27. See images.
Weather: Clear skies and light winds at upper elevations. No snow transport was observed during the day.
Snowpack: Below treeline, there was around a 15-inch soft slab from the recent snowy weather since 1/27. Near treeline on drifted terrain, slabs were closer to 2 feet + with hardness commonly 4 finger with isolated, well-drifted features up to 1 finger. Test profiles produced moderate and hard propagating results at the storm interface since 1/27. Both locations were previously drifted and failed above the drifting from last week (1/23 – 1/25). Light faceting was common above and below the older wind drifts from a week ago. I did not find a melt/freeze crust on due south slopes above 10,800 feet at the storm interface. Snow surfaces on southerly slopes became moist in the afternoon from solar radiation.

Photos:

5954

Jan. 31, 2023

A few more naturals viewed from Mt. CB

Date of Observation: 01/31/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: See photos and details below. D1 to D2 storm slab avalanches on various peaks near town that ran during yesterday’s storm.

Photos:

5953

Jan. 31, 2023

Large naturals on Schuylkill Ridge

Date of Observation: 01/31/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Schuylkill Ridge, northeasterly aspects to 11,400′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 3 large slab avalanches (D2) in the Great Wide Open that ran late yesterday or last night, about 2-3 feet thick from just below the windloaded ridgeline. 2 other large slab avalanches ran before the last round of snow, I’m guessing during Sunday night’s wind event. Both of those crossed the bench. The slide on Yogi’s covered the existing skin track with ~6 ft of debris.  Plus a number of other slab avalanches D1 to D1.5 at all elevations that ran during the storm, and evidence of other activity in the alpine that is drifted over again. See photos.
Weather: Clear, cold, calm winds.
Snowpack: In wind-sheltered terrain, undercutting steep slopes and skinning abov produced cracks up to 5′ long, about 16″ deep on the storm interface. Otherwise, no signs of instability; ski cut a few steeper rollovers without results.

Photos:

5952

Jan. 31, 2023

Gothic Weather update

Date of Observation: 01/31/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Obscured clouds cover with light snow all day Monday accompanied by strong afternoon wind and blizzard conditions which finally let up at sunset. New snow total of 6½” with 0.45″ of water and the snowpack sits at 62½” under a (this is not a misprint) clear sky. Cooling after it cleared with the low the current -1F, with a light SW breeze.

5950

Jan. 30, 2023

Snodgrass Storm Skiing

Date of Observation: 01/30/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: A few laps on the North-Easterly lines of Snodgrass, accessed via Gothic Road skin track

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: All localized sluffs and small crowns, confined to storm snow-old snow interfaces only on the steepest of rollovers
Weather: Snowing hard all day, temps were pretty cold outside of denser stands of trees; the sun came through the clouds for about an hour midday; often still/subtly breezy, but there were frequent gusts around 25 mph throughout the day.
Snowpack: Pit @ ~9900 ft, NE aspect, 28* slope angle

Snow height at pit 155 cm

ECTN 7 @ 135 cm, storm snow-old snow interface, and with progressive loading to 30, ECT X. Moderately aggressive prying resulted in a non-planar break at 95 cm on what appeared to be an old sun crust that had just started to decompose before it was buried.

The top meter of snow ramped up in hardness from F for the top 20 cm to 4F for roughly another 30 cm to 1F for the remaining 50 cm, with no obvious weak layers detected.

5949

Jan. 30, 2023

Irwin storm slabs

Date of Observation: 01/30/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: SS-ASc-R1-D1-I 35cm X 100′ X 80′ EBM below Bender cliff band. Numerous small storm slabs 6-12″ thick E/W aspects NTL.
Weather: Today started out windy to say the least with SW winds in the 40’s for a six hour run and gusts in the 70’s. Mid day things tapered off a bit as winds shifted to the W. Snowed S-1 until this afternoon, snowing S3 at times.
Snowpack: NTL/ATL W was getting scoured until the later part of the day. Significant loading on E. Storm slab became more reactive to AS as the day progressed. Only traveled E in the AM as visibility allowed observed significant loading and wind wales below cliff bands.

5948

Jan. 30, 2023

Stormy

Date of Observation: 01/30/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Axtell, mostly below treeline, poked into ridgeline near treeline terrain too.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Some small sluffing and micro slabs with ski cuts BTL
Weather: Light to moderate snowfall rates this morning, with a few inches on the skin track and a few more by midday. Moderate winds with significant previous and ongoing transport as we got into more wind exposed terrain.
Snowpack: Below treeline: very soft slab (12”, F) on a soft lightly faceted interface, not much propagation; ski cuts would crumple small slabs and behave more like sluffs.
Near treeline in wind exposed terrain (Wang Chung and 4th Bowl) there were obvious drifts; flat light and the high consequence terrain here made it difficult to get any feedback.

Photos:

5947

Jan. 29, 2023

Some cracking and unstable tests, West Brush Creek

Date of Observation: 01/29/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Union Chutes area, up to 11,500′.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: No recent natural activity that I could see in this area.
Weather: Mild day, with no snow and light wind where we were, but I could see ongoing snow transport on Whetstone and Gothic Peak.
Snowpack: The mid-January near surface facet layer (the storm interface) is about 8″ to 12″ deep in sheltered terrain below treeline and 16″ to 24″ deep in leeward terrain near treeline. It produced cracking on the few steeper slopes that we ski cut; but felt more stubborn than what I saw yesterday. ECTs produced moderate propagating results on this layer on a drifted slope NTL, as well as hard propagating results on faceted snow near the ground. Because of large cornices guarding leeward features, and wind slabs too thick and stiff here for comfortable ski cuts, I didn’t seek out feedback in the most suspect terrain. HS is 105 near the creek and variable near ridgetop because of winds; 135 cm where we measured.

Photos:

5946

Jan. 29, 2023

Gothic weather update

Date of Observation: 01/29/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Saturday snow was very dense and windblown, then a pause overnight with light density snow starting back towards sunrise so it sort of averages out at 3″ new and 0.25″ of water. Strong afternoon winds on Saturday slowing up around 9 p.m. Currently overcast with very light snowfall and a light SW breeze while the snowpack sits at 58″, which is 24% above average for this date. Temperature is a small range after a high of 21F and low of 12F. billy

5945

Jan. 28, 2023

Storm slabs on Schuylkill Ridge

Date of Observation: 01/28/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Schuylkill Ridge, northeasterly aspects to 11,400′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous skier and rider triggered storm slabs from D1 to D1.5, depending on the length and steepness of the terrain. There were also a few naturals that ran earlier in the storm, probably yesterday.
Weather: Light snowfall in the morning, light graupel in the afternoon. Moderate winds with moderate transport at ridgetop.
Snowpack: About 15″ of low density storm snow (F). Reactive storm slabs on terrain features steeper than about 37 degrees. The crowns that I looked at failed within the storm snow on low-density stellar dendrites that fell yesterday, although there is also a small-grained near surface facet layer at the storm interface. No significant drifting where we traveled except just below ridgeline, where slabs were a bit thicker and stiffer, up to 18″, 4F.

Photos:

5944

Jan. 28, 2023

Storm slabs at Irwin

Date of Observation: 01/28/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread Touchy Storm Slabs to D1 near and below TL
Weather: OVC, Hi 17/8, WSW 10-25 g30-50, S-1 to S2
Snowpack: Widespread Touchy Storm Slabs reflective of our 16″ HST plus or minus wind transport, limited to D1 in size. There was significant wind transport near and above TL.

5943

Jan. 28, 2023

Anthracite Mesa-Coneys

Date of Observation: 01/28/2023
Name: Andrew Breibart

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch to Coneys via normal skin track.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Moderate to strong winds from the west on the ridge with snow transport into first bowl and second bowl. In the lower 1/3 of the slope and in the valley bottom, moderate downslope winds with blowing snow. Intermittent periods of S1 snowfall. Wind was the main cause of changes in snow depth and texture. skies were obstructed which precluded the ability to observe avalanche activity.
Snowpack: skin track snow depth: 30 cm (12) inches in the lower part of the skin track and up to 53 cm (21) inches below the ridge on a leeward slope.
summit ridge snow depth: above convex corner was about 25 cm (10 inches) and approximately 10 cm (4 inches) above first bowl.

5942

Jan. 28, 2023

SE Zone Avalanches

Date of Observation: 01/28/2023
Name: Frank Stern

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Glades

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: SSE aspect, 11,000′, SS-N-D2-R1-i
SSE aspect, 10,000′ SS-N-D2 R1-i
Weather: Snowy and windy
Snowpack: 12″ fresh

5941

Jan. 27, 2023

Lower Wolverine Basin

Date of Observation: 01/27/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Slate River TH to Gunsight Pass Road and up through middle portion of Wolverine Basin.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Around 1pm storm totals reached 4″ and slopes steeper than about 38 degrees easily produced Loose Dry avalanches in the storm snow.
Weather: Light snow in the AM increased to moderate rates with a few periods of high-intensity snow. We traveled through reasonably protected areas, but there was a clear increase in wind speeds in the afternoon. Storm totals near 5 inches around 230 pm.
Snowpack: Traveled through east and northeasterly terrain from 9,000 – 11,000 feet. Snow depth ranged from about 120 – 145cm. No cracking or collapsing. I dug a hasty profile on a slope that naturally avalanched around 1/4 and found around 90cm of snow that was generally fist and 4-finger hard. The basal weak layer was intact near the ground and was fist hard. I suspect further down the slope the avalanche that ran on 1/4 scoured into basal weak layers even though basal weak layer was present at the very top of the start zone (see photo). I was able to trigger Loose Dry avalanches in the storm snow on this 200-foot slope that entrained about 10 inches into the snowpack due to the shallow weak snowpack.

Old snow surfaces in this area were comprised of near surface facets around .7mm in size.

Photos:

5940

Jan. 27, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary January 20-26, 2023

The weekly snowpack summary is here. The week was generally clear and the valley only saw short lived bouts of new snow. Winds increased towards the end of the week and fresh wind slabs were built by Friday morning. A stormy pattern this weekend will bring several inches to a foot of new snow.

Weekly Summary January 20 – 26, 2023 Compressed

 

Jan. 27, 2023

Anthracites – small skier triggered avalanche

Date of Observation: 01/27/2023
Name: Observation to CBAC Via Text Message

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: East Bowl – Anthracites

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Kicked off small windslab btl east aspect on a small convex steep roll. 12″ deep ran 30 feet before stopping in flats. Basically end of trees on top pitch of East Bowl where at rolls steep, aka the cirque.
Weather:
Snowpack:

5939

Jan. 27, 2023

RMBL Gothic Snow Study Plot 01.26.23

Date of Observation: 01/26/2023
Name: Sophia Todorov

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: RMBL Snow Study Plot in parking lot in front of Dining Hall

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: partly cloudy, calm, about 6 degrees F
Snowpack: Snowpack is 116cm. The top ~half~ (65cm-116cm) is snow from the most recent storm cycles that has settled greatly, ranging from F at the top to 1F firmness at the bottom of the layer. This is followed by a relatively strong P layer (32cm-65cm). The snowpack is still maintaining the weak F layer from 15cm to 32cm, but it is buried deep now. And, as a result, we did not observe any collapse or propagation during an extended column test. ECTX.

Photos:

5938

Jan. 26, 2023

Hunter Hill – soft faceted surfaces out of the wind

Date of Observation: 01/26/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek TH to Hunter Hill. Skin up SE slopes to 12,000 feet. Skies modest angled northeast slopes 12,000 – 11,600. Skied southeast 12,000 – 10,400.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A trio of recent Wind Slabs on east aspects of Hunter Hill above treeline, D1.5 and D2. Looking into the greater Elk Mountains, it was hard to view with marginal lighting but looked like maybe a few other recent wind slabs but the photos were inconclusive.
Weather: Cold temperatures at valley bottom were below zero but slowly increased during day and as we ascended out of the inversion zone. Temps at 12,000 feet maybe hit 10 degrees. Winds out of NW remained light with some moderate gusting. Very little snow transport was observed as most windward surfaces near and above 12,000 feet were stiff and lacked soft snow for transport.
Snowpack: No signs of instability underfoot outside of some minor cracking in drifted snow above treeline. Drifted slabs above treeline were stiff and hard. Depth on southeast slopes in this area ranged from 130 – 150 cm. Depth in a northeast-facing basin was around 160cm near treeline. A test profile produced no concerning results but the mid-December weak layer remains 4-finger hard, under a 100cm slab. with clear signs of rounding (see photo). Snow surfaces remained dry on all aspects and provided excellent skiing where protected from the wind. Near surface facets formed on slopes protected from the wind; sizes are generally .5 – .7mm.

Photos:

5936

Jan. 26, 2023

Irwin explosive control work

Date of Observation: 01/26/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Guides Cat-Ski tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 1st shot of the season in Eyes of the World ran O/G with a 3# hand charge on an
unsupported slope skiers left below the rock band. Impressive hard slab with car size blocks smoking small
trees.
New World HS-AE-R3-D2.5-O FC (180cm x 40m x 180m)
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5935

Jan. 26, 2023

Soft(ish) Sastrugi in Redwell

Date of Observation: 01/26/2023
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Red lady skin track to the summit. Redwell Basin to Wrong Chute. 9,000-12,400ft NW, N & NE aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Clear & cold. -24 degrees at the Slate TH, probably low teens on the summit. Minimal wind.
Snowpack: Entrance (NW aspect) was very wind impacted, but the sastrugi was surprisingly soft. A few hundred feet down, the snow transitioned to relatively consistent, dense powder. The lower we went, the softer the snow, with the best turns in the belly of Wrong Chute (or in this case right chute…let the confusion persist for eternity). Seems like the snowpack is becoming more faceted during this dry, cold spell.

5934

Jan. 25, 2023

Irwin obs

Date of Observation: 01/25/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Upper Westwall mitigation work.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Shallow wind slabs (4-6″ deep) ATL on W aspects specific to terrain features. Large HE tests in the New World produced cracking to the ground in loaded pockets in the Thimble. In Thread/ Needle the AB only released surface snow which picked up enough speed to almost run full track. 1 large collapse with 3# covershot in the entrance to Thread.

5933

Jan. 25, 2023

Deep and strong pack with fresh wind slabs forming

Date of Observation: 01/25/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: The southern side of Ruby Peak to 12,000′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Intentionally triggered a fresh wind slab that was about a foot thick and 40′ wide, D1 in size, on a windloaded east aspect near treeline. Triggered several other minor pockets on small features.
Weather: Light snowfall, light to moderate winds with periods of blowing snow. Cold temps.
Snowpack: Sensitive fresh drifts ranged from 3″ to 12″ thick, with frequent localized cracking and occasional collapses and shooting cracks on drifted features. Some slabs were cracking on precip particles, some were on a layer of near-surface facets that formed during the recent dry weather.
A profile targeting a relatively shallow slope similar to the one that avalanched on Ruby a week ago produced unreactive test results. The slab was about 5 feet deep, up to pencil hard near its base, on 1F- rounding facets (1mm).

Photos:

5932

Jan. 25, 2023

Small windslab on Schuylkill

Date of Observation: 01/25/2023
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Standard up track on the SE end of Schuylkill ridge. Descended to the valley floor just north of Snake in the Grass or Snakey (or whatever it is called). 9,200-11,400ft; mostly NE aspect.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Ski triggered a very small windslab (6″ deep, 20′ wide) on a steep rollover in open terrain (obviously wind affected snow) on one of the lower benches (9,800 feet). No big deal, but could have been a bigger deal in more consequential terrain. We also saw a moose!

5931

Jan. 25, 2023

Whetstone (Monkey Paw)

Date of Observation: 01/24/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Toured from gravel pit

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: We saw and heard no signs of instability except near tree line on wind exposed ridges. Small natural shallow releases on steep slopes. Nothing significant.
Weather: High clouds, light west winds and cold temps.
Snowpack: 120-150cm. Mostly uniform on the tour. Supportable mid pack. Pole probing showed a small weaker layer near the ground but we did not effect it on our ski or skin. Ski penetration was 20-30cm

5930

Jan. 24, 2023

Bad structure on Red Mtn

Date of Observation: 01/24/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red Mountain below treeline

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Did not travel near avalanche terrain.
Snowpack: See attached pit from a below treeline, NE facing slope. Moderate sudden collapse, propagating results below a 4F slab on both the mid-December weak layer (1-1.5 rounding facets) and 11/28 layer (3-5 mm depth hoar), both fist hard. Total snow depth here is 95 cm.

Photos:

5929

Jan. 22, 2023

Small slide on gothic

Date of Observation: 01/22/2023
Name: Zane Wasicko

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Skinned in Washington Gulch to do some beacon practice. Now real skiing.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small slide on South West aspect of Gothic near tree-line. Didn’t see it happen but saw a crown. Pretty small but though may as well submit

Weather: Clear am, cloudy pm. Sunny. Cold. Not too windy

Photos:

5925

Jan. 22, 2023

Ruby Range West and East

Date of Observation: 01/22/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: West and East. 10,000ft to 11,800ft.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Small sluffs. Not enough to be problematic and more a sign of the good snow quality.

Weather: Clam wind. High thin clouds slowly built in, becoming partly cloudy around noon and overcast later in the afternoon.

Snowpack: Thank you Ullr, the snow is still really good in some places, after yesterday’s northerly winds. We didn’t travel into the high alpine where snow surfaces could have been more wind affected. On this tour, snow surfaces were delightfully soft.

We started and finished the day on an east aspect between Ruby and the Dyke. The total snowpack depth was deep. The only potential concern was lingering wind slabs near ridgeline. We didn’t end up encountering a wind slab problem where we gained the ridge.

Off the west side, the snow surface in the first hundred feet was a little wind pressed, then it became soft and well-preserved powder from the last cycle. Those precipitation particles near the snow surface were still fairly large and had not decomposed much. At 10,000ft on the west side of the Dyke, the total HS was 170cm on a 10 degree west facing slope. Between 10,000ft and 11,800ft the HS varied dramatically in this location. Both due to past wind events and perhaps old avalanche activity that is no longer visible. Either way, we encountered no signs of instability while skiing and climbing steep slopes.

Photos:

5924

Jan. 22, 2023

Southeast Tours

Date of Observation: 01/23/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Long tour below timberline on W-N-E slopes. Two consecutive days. ~6 miles

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: No new avalanches. Small crowns buried from at least a week ago.

Weather: Cold, calm, sunny

Snowpack: No obvious signs of instability beneath the skis. No observed instability on surrounding mountains. Supportive Sun crusts on west faces. Dry cold surface on N-SE slopes

5923

Jan. 20, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary January 13-19, 2023

The weekly snowpack summary is here. Last weekend’s warm temperatures and clear skies gave way to a series of storms that dropped 3-4 feet of snow across the valley. Storm slabs and wind slabs were the predominate avalanches reported during this cycle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Summary January 13 – 19, 2023 compressed

 

Jan. 20, 2023

Walrod West Facing Slope

Date of Observation: 01/19/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Up Walrod

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: small slab on west facing slope, running next to the trail.
Weather: 1/19/2023
Sunny, 20s
Snowpack:

Photos:

5922

Jan. 19, 2023

A couple of natural avalanches along the spine of the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 01/19/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Avalanches viewed from Reno Ridge in the Ruby Mountains. Views from a long way off.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A natural slab on Owen, east aspect, and another near Bichmond (along spine of Ruby Range by Cascade), southeast aspect. Both look to be small D2 avalanches in the recent storm snow. Probably big enough to bury a person, but viewed from 20 miles away.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5918

Jan. 19, 2023

Ruby Peak Avalanche

Date of Observation: 01/19/2023
Name: Jack Caprio

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ruby Range

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Recent Avalanche on the south side of Ruby Peak. Large in size. Best guess is that it failed in the recent 40+ inches of storm snow, 2 to 3 feet deep.

Photos:

5917

Jan. 19, 2023

Reno Divide Tour

Date of Observation: 01/19/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek Road up Grassy Hill up Radio Tower Hill on snowmobile. Ski tour on eastern side of Radio Tower Hill.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Views into Southeast Mountains revealed just a few small Wind Slabs in alpine terrain. All appeared to be D1 in size, well short of D2;
Weather: Mostly clear skies with thin, high clouds sliding in around midday. Light winds before noon that went breathless at 12,000 feet in the afternoon. The recent storm cycle had a settle height of roughly 12″ at treeline.
Snowpack: I toured along a north-to-south ridgeline around 12,000 feet. No signs of instability underfoot while stomping along the thin edge of slabs on westerly start zones or drifted east through south terrain features. Weak layers are still obvious beneath slabs while probing on most aspects in this area but I was unable to produce any collapses. Snow profile on an alpine south slope showed several facet/crust layers with slabs stacked between but no propagating results (see photo). A northeast slope with a depth of 170cm near the treeline produced ECTX and PST END 65/120. I tried to find signs of instability and couldn’t; even without signs of instability or concerning test results, I would be hesitant to step into consequential terrain in this area for fear of finding a trigger point.

Snow depths near Reno Divide (11,300 feet) were 160cm, near Deadman’s TH (9,700 feet) in the middle portion of Cement Creek were 115cm.

Photos:

5916

Jan. 19, 2023

So Fat

Date of Observation: 01/19/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River Ruby Range area. Various aspects, NE-E,SE-S-W. 9,300-11,500ft

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few wind slabs, storm slabs, sluffs, and cornice breaks, but nothing real big or notable. Nothing looked like it was running on a persistent weak layer. Will attach the best highlights in pictures.

Weather: Headed out around 11am. Cloud cover had increased by that time with incoming high thin clouds. Somewhere in the partly cloudy to mostly cloudy range through the early afternoon. Calm wind. Beautiful day.

Snowpack: In general, a lot of things look deep and caked in snow. I sure hope the wind stays away. Snow surfaces were impressively good, even in the alpine after yesterday’s increased winds. A little thicker than a few days ago, but still lovely. I pushed through several thick wind-loaded pillows on steep SE test slopes at around 10,700ft, and a couple of other locations. Couldn’t get anything to budge. Wind slabs felt stubborn.

Photos:

5915

Jan. 19, 2023

Snowpit on Snodgrass, 4th bowl

Date of Observation: 01/18/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Climbed up the NE face of Snodgrass to the top of “Abbey Lane”, then gained the ridge to the top of “Fourth Bowl”. We dug the snowpit there, then skied down to Gothic road.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: No avalanches. Minor sluffing of the most recent storm snow, between 2 and 5″, during skinning.

Weather: Overcast with some sunshine peeking through.

Snowpack: 210cm deep snowpack downslope of a large tree at the top of 4th bowl. See attached image.
Performed a compression test and observed no failure, although snow only compressed until the layer at 150cm.

5913

Jan. 18, 2023

We got something special going on

Date of Observation: 01/18/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: AMR tour. N-NE-E. 10,000ft to 11,500ft

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small wind slab above Kebler Pass Rd. The wind-protected steep pitches on East Bowl where we skied, clearly had old storm slabs that had run through the terrain and disrupted the snow surface but would have been small in size.

Weather: NW flow had the final kick. Moderate snowfall throughout the day. Irwin recorded 5″ of new snow. Poor visibility and blizzard-like conditions at times as snowfall combined with strong winds and blowing snow. Obscured sky through the day as the sun tried to poke through, but the orographic cloud was in the way.

Snowpack: Every day is crazy deep. Abnormal conditions and something we are not used to. We skied steep slopes to around 40 degrees and primarily managed the terrain for wind slabs. We chose not to ski Big Chute due to the continuous cross-loading it was seeing. The top of Rock Chute had a thicker slab, again from cross-loading and we chose to simply steer around it. Where we dropped into East Bowl, we primarily encountered small sluffs, until we got down to the lower more open areas, where there were notable thick cross-loaded pillows. Other areas of East Bowl are of course heavily wind-loaded from the top.

Stopped by Surface Hoar Meadow, north aspect at 10,550. HS 275. The 1/12 interface was down 70cm. 4 to 5mm SH at this location, below F hard snow. An ECT produced a hard result on a different SH layer down 110cm in 1F snow. No obvious signs of instability traveling through that area.

Photos:

5912

Jan. 18, 2023

Gothic 7am weather update

Date of Observation: 01/18/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains

Weather: Only scattered light snow yesterday and last night with 3½” new and water 0.29″. Cloudy with light wind that gusted at times but little snow transport, then cooling overnight down to 8F and currently 12 after a high of 29 for only a brief time. Currently cloudy with a light wind though occasional gusts to 10, but it is not snowing. Snowpack dropped from 71″ to 67½” as the new snow is setting up, but with a ways to go.

5911

Jan. 17, 2023

Shallow slabs on East

Date of Observation: 01/17/2023
Name: Rob Strickland

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: RLG skinner maintenance…

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small slabs (4”) naturally released on East facing side of the bowl near the tree line, as seen from the windy ridge.
Only small point releases from tree bombs and stomping cornices just past the windy ridge. So I was surprised to see the slabs above there.

Weather: Snowy, low vis

Photos:

5910

Jan. 17, 2023

🤯

Date of Observation: 01/17/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass. 9,500-11,100ft. NE-E

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered and natural loose snow avalanches or sluffs in steep terrain. All small in size, and interestingly not accumulating much mass even on 40-degree slopes. Numerous storm slabs that had released at various times throughout the last couple of storms. Some to D1.5 in size. The most recent activity from last night maybe was all small D1.

I talked with another skier that dropped into a portion of California Bowl. This is a steep NE slope around 10,600ft. While skiing in an old bed surface they said they triggered a soft slab avalanche about 1.5ft deep. They said the resulting avalanche was small in size and they didn’t notice it had released until finishing the line.

Weather: Between 11am and 1:30pm the snowfall was generally light. There was a break in snowfall from around 1:30pm to 3pm. Snowfall rates seemed higher in the morning and later afternoon when I wasn’t out. Calm wind.

Snowpack: A few storm interfaces could be found in the upper 45-50cm of the snowpack with shovel tilt tests and some small column tests. Nothing would propagate in an ECT. Skied steep slopes in the upper 30-degree range to around 40-degree range with only small sluffs. Some of those slopes had previously avalanched and had a couple of feet of snow back in those bed surfaces, and others had the full seasons snowpack. Of course, no obvious signs of instability regarding the PSa problem while traveling through that terrain.

I didn’t find any SH at the ~1/14 interface higher in the terrain. I was able to find that SH down low near Gothic Road on a NE aspect at 10,500ft. That SH was small, surrounded by soft fist-hard snow, and produced an ECTN result.

I only made observations in the upper snowpack. In general, the upper snowpack looked good thanks to the relatively warm temperatures and fairly continuous snow. I suspect the storm slab avalanche problem has primarily been reactive during brief windows of peak precipitation rates.

Photos:

5909

Jan. 17, 2023

CBMR avalanche observations

Date of Observation: 01/17/2023
Name: J. Mortimer

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: CBMR A/C Operations

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: • Avalanche observations from today and yesterday are listed here due to InfoEx not populating the Obs. into the email correctly under avalanche observations
• 01.16.23
High Exit – 3rd Bowl
SS-ASr-R1-D1.5-O/G This avalanche was remotely triggered by a patroller stomping snow at the base of a tree in a safe zone. A loud collapse and whooph was heard Multiple 2 lb. shots on snow had been deployed
• Funnel
HS-AE-R3-D3-O/G Large hard slab avalanche triggered with two simultaneous 4 lb. shots in snow. The avalanche ran full track. The depth of the debris was 75 to 155 cm
• 01.17.23 Bermuda Triangle
AE-SS-R3-D2-G
This avalanche was triggered with one 2 lb. shot in snow at 10,600’ on a NE aspect in Bermuda Triangle / Phoenix area
The avalanche occurred on a 55 degree slope was 200’ wide, vertical fall 800’ ran 800’
Crown depth was 5 to 6 feet

Photos:

5908

Jan. 17, 2023

Gothic weather update

Date of Observation: 01/17/2023
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite observations.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Only light snow Monday, 2″, with a mid day pause, though solid clouds. Then steady moderately heavy snowfall all night with 11″ new but still a very light density 0.65″ so the 24 hour total is 13″ new with 0.77″ of water. Snowpack is at winter’s deepest of 71″. Wind is calm to light from the SW, no visibility and the temperature does not move, holding at 18F since midnight. Currently snowing very lightly. This recent snow is light on top of dense snow but there has been too much of it to stabilize quickly so at the least surface slides are likely. I wish one of them was my roof. billy
Snowpack:

5907

Jan. 16, 2023

Good Pow

Date of Observation: 01/16/2023
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler TH to Anthracites, standard skin track to ridge

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Did not observe any fresh slides in the terrain we traveled, views of the surrounding terrain were very limited.
Weather: Cloudy, calm winds near and below the treeline, light snow showers throughout the day, and moderate snow beginning to fall around 4:00pm. 1-2″ of accumulation during the day.
Snowpack: There was 35-40cm of settled storm snow over the past 2 days. HS was 235cm at 10,600′ on a north aspect. No cracking or collapsing observed during the tour. We skied slopes up to ~35 degrees and jumped on several others of various aspects with no signs of instability. Ski cuts on steeper, unsupported slopes only produced minor sluffing in the upper few inches. Found 6 mm Surface Hoar on one particular open northerly slope at 10,600 ft that produced an ECTP9 under a soft 35 cm slab. Hasty pits and another Extended Column Test near ridgeline did not reveal sensitive surface hoar or produce propagating results.

 

[/gravityforms]
5906

Jan. 16, 2023

Deeep in the Northwest Mountains

Date of Observation: 01/16/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River Road to Poverty Gulch and ski tour by Baxter Basin.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Visibility was marginal but I got reasonable views of Happy Chutes, Climax Chutes, Schuylkill Ridge, Cascade and some glimpses of Baxter Basin and Richmond Mountain. Loose Dry avalanches were common on very steep slopes near and below treeline. Most seemed to be from tree bombs or shedding cliff features. I did not see any significant propagation and the debris piles were small.
Weather: Light snowfall late morning through mid-afternoon that amounted to an inch or so. Winds remained light with very little evidence of drifting overnight or during the day. I occasionally was able to hear stronger winds at the ridge top. Storm total at 230 pm was 17″ with 1.3″ snow water equivalent at 10,700 feet.
Snowpack: Shovel Tilt Test’s revealed easy results in the top 6 inches and moderate results at the base of the storm snow. ECTN easy score at base of storm snow but no propagating results. Cracking in the new snow was limited to a ski length at most and was typically in top 6 inches with a few harder cuts cracking to base of the storm snow. Loose Dry avalanches were easy to initiate in the low-density snow. Test slopes produced no signs of slab instability. I looked in several places for buried surface hoar and did not find it. Snow depths in a wind-affected area at 10,600 feet ranged from 200 cm to 300+ cm.

Photos:

5905

Jan. 16, 2023

Gothic Weather update

Date of Observation: 01/16/2023
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite weather observations.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Snowed most all day of the Sunday but lightly except for an hour mid afternoon, which was followed by an hour or so of moderate wind, which then let up. Hooray for that, though it moved a good bit of snow. There was 5″ new with 0.32″ of water. Light to moderate snow overnight becoming very light a couple hours before sunrise with 9″ new and water 0.49″, so the 24 hour total is 14″ new with total water a much more historical normal 0.81″ being 6% water content. The snowpack reached the winter deepest (and the current) of 63½”. Currently the cloud cover is- well, go ahead, guess, with light snow and no wind. Temperature range was a hgh of 36F and the low and current 17F. No visibility. billy
Snowpack:

5904

Jan. 15, 2023

Slate

Date of Observation: 01/15/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate up to ATL

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Innumerable point releases due to tree bombs. Some running up to 500 feet. Long running but slow sluffs under board.
Weather: Snowfall rates to 3 inches an hour, wow.
Cold front around noon
Winds building as of 5
Snowpack: Deep enough. primary concern was buried surface hoar which was rampant up to ~10000 the day prior. The intense graupel last night and warm Temps seem to have homogenized that buried layer into something less concerning

5902

Jan. 15, 2023

West Brush Creek – sunny side Teo tour

Date of Observation: 01/15/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Brush Creek TH to West Brush Creek on snowmobile. Toured up sunny side of Teocalli to 11,600 feet.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: none observed. Visibility was obscured so I never got a chance to see Union Chutes terrain or even the South Face of Teocalli.
Weather: Light snow and wind through around noon. Snowfall and wind picked up around 1pm — new snow accumulations of around 5 inches at 230pm at 11,500.
Snowpack: I dug two profiles, one on a south slope below the treeline and another on an east slope near the treeline (see images). Oddly enough, the first profile on south produced propagating results at three different interfaces (all facets below crust collapses). However, I skinned up through 1,600 feet of this fairly open terrain and never got a collapse or sign of instability even while ski-cutting steep test slopes on the way down. The east profile produced no propagating results in standardized tests, but when I removed most of the slab above the 12/20 facet layer, I was able to reproduce moderate propagating results. These results seem to show a decrease in sensitivity overall but genuine concern for triggering avalanches from shallow locations where the wind or terrain has created trigger points.

While descending in the afternoon, there was a clear change in storm snow. I was able to easily produce ski-length cracks in the top inch of storm snow. Not a problem where I was skiing, but a clear indication that places with more storm snow or wind drifting were developing a new surface storm snow problem.

Photos:

5901

Jan. 15, 2023

Hot Pow

Date of Observation: 01/15/2023
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Ohio Pass Trailhead

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed a shallow but widely propagating slide in the upper snowpack on a south aspect in the Anthracites. It likely ran Friday with the warming.
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5900

Jan. 15, 2023

Gothic 7am weather update

Date of Observation: 01/15/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Snow starting just a few hours ago and light with 1½” new and water 0.13″ as another week of gloom starts up. Currently overcast and snowing lightly with a light SW wind and the overnight temperature range was 22-23ºF after high’s the past 2 days of 40 and 36F. Current snowpack is at 51″ with average for this date 42″. Snowfall is 14% below average but SWE is 9% above.

5898

Jan. 14, 2023

Upper Slate

Date of Observation: 01/14/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate. 9,500-11,000. E and NE

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: A Partly cloudy sky in the morning became mostly cloudy by early afternoon. Generally light winds. Mild temps.

Snowpack: This was just a weather station visit for some site maintenance. Along the way, I didn’t notice any obvious signs of instability. Generally, the snow surface in this area didn’t look partially concerning with the incoming storm, but I eventually started to find a few locations with small surface hoar. A low-angle NE slope at 11,000ft had an HS of 260cm. A meadow near Pittsburg at 9,300ft had an HS of 165cm.

5897

Jan. 13, 2023

Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 01/13/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ruby Range near Irwin. 11,000 to 13,000ft. NE-E-SE

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 1 undocumented cornice avalanche on Mt Owen. Difficult to date, but probably early in the last storm. Fresh roller balls and tiny wet loose avalanches, primarily on SE-S-SW. Stayed up high all afternoon and didn’t get a good feel for wet avalanche activity at lower elevations.

Weather: Pleasant day in the alpine. Calm wind. High temps at Scarps ridge were just below freezing. High clouds created a partly cloudy sky

Snowpack: As expected, no obvious signs of instability. Managing old wind slabs, cornices, and sluffs were the primary avalanche problems encountered. We avoided areas with a below-average snowpack depth and southerly-facing slopes in the alpine. Snow surfaces were lovely. Even the wind effect was soft, a little thicker but still soft. Small SH on the snow surface all the way up at 13,000ft on ridgelines.

[/gravityforms]
5895

Jan. 13, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary January 6-12, 2023

The weekly summary is here. A week of storms that dropped over 2 feet of snow ended on Thursday 1/12 as a high pressure system moved into the valley complete with daytime highs in the upper 30’s and even lower 40’s. Saturday evening looks to be the transition into the next stormy period.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Summary January 6-12 compressed
Jan. 12, 2023

Very Large Avalanche in the Pencil

Date of Observation: 01/12/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Axtell

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A very large avalanche in the Pencil, on Mt Axtell. It appears to have released on the weak layers near the bottom of the snowpack. Couldn’t see the avalanche debris, but given the size of the crown and the amount of snow entrained I’d estimate it was a D3.

Photos:

5894

Jan. 12, 2023

Avalanche activity viewed from ski area

Date of Observation: 01/12/2023
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Northwest Mountains/Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from ski area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural activity from the recent cycle
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5893

Jan. 12, 2023

Photos from West Elk Air

Date of Observation: 01/12/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains/Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Flight around the forecast area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Aerial images of numerous large avalanches from the recent cycle courtesy of Peter Smith and West Elk Air.
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5892

Jan. 12, 2023

Mt. Baldy

Date of Observation: 01/12/2023
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch past Elkton and then up lookers left ridge of South Bowl. Quick tour up to Elkton knob upon return.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of avalanches in the NW mountains on SE-E-NE aspects near and above treeline. These were all wind slabs formed over the previous 2 days and generally D1.5 with a couple D2s. No fresh persistent slabs were seen in the deeper snowpack. Observed 2 large slides on the West side of Gothic that looked to have started as wind slabs and then stepped down deeper in the snowpack.
Weather: Cold in the valley, quite pleasant once above 10,000′ especially in the abundant sunshine. Winds were calm below treeline and light near treeline. Occasional Moderate winds were observed moving snow on a few of the highest peaks in the range.
Snowpack: Travelling mainly on Southerly aspects from 10,800-12,100′ snowpack depth was generally between 150-180 cm deep on the uniform, planar slopes. Certain features were much shallower and some deeper. There was about 45 cm of settled snow from the 1/10-1/11 cycle. The upper few inches of snow on steeper southerlies was moist. Other than 2 small collapses on drifted SE features I observed no cracking or collapsing elsewhere. A profile on a SSW aspect near treeline produced an ECTP23 on 1-1.5mm facets near the ground(4 finger minus hardness). The slab here was just over 100 cm thick with the bottom few centimeters being Pencil hard.

 

[/gravityforms]
5891

Jan. 11, 2023

They call it AMR

Date of Observation: 01/11/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Couple laps in AMR. North, 10,000ft to 11,500ft

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Continuous snow through the morning hours and starting to taper off in the early afternoon. Strong NW winds and lots of snow transport. Poor visibility.

Snowpack: Measured about 40 to 45cm of new snow in an old skin track. I’d assume that track was put in yesterday. A couple of different storm interfaces in the upper snowpack, with layers of lower-density snow and grapple. Cracking in the upper snowpack become more abundant as we entered NTL elevations or in areas with wind-affected snow. We skied slope angles around 35 degrees and didn’t otherwise encounter anything notable.

5889

Jan. 11, 2023

Deep in the Pacific Southwest

Date of Observation: 01/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on westerly below treeline terrain near Pittsburg.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Saw a couple of storm slabs that likely ran yesterday or last night on a cut bank above the Slate. Limited vis, but I could see that there were no valley crushers off of Schuylkill Ridge which was nice.
Weather: Storming hard. Moderate to heavy snowfall throughout the day with gusty northwest winds blowing snow down valley and off trees.
Snowpack: Storm totals near Pittsburg are 50 cm and the snowpack is ~200 cm. No signs of instability underfoot traveling on mellow slope angles. On a west aspect, we tested the 12/20 and 11/28 layers using modified deep-tap ECTs. 11/28 produced a propagating fracture under a 170 cm slab. The layer is 3-4 mm depth hoar. The 12/20 interface is 1-1.5mm rounding facets, and did not propagate fractures.

Photos:

5888

Jan. 11, 2023

Gothic Weather update

Date of Observation: 01/11/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite obserations

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Cloudy (all day, all the time) with only light snowfall yesterday but very dense as it reached 32F. Some wind late morning on. Then a bit of snow after dark, pausing until around midnight and then steady snow (4½”) since. Total the last 24 hours was 7″ new and water 0.66″ as the snowpack reached winter’s deepest of 56½”. Wind is calm and the current temperature is the morning low of 18F with light snow. billy
Snowpack:

5886

Jan. 11, 2023

Lower Cement Creek

Date of Observation: 01/10/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek trailhead to below treeline hills around Warm Springs.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Light snowfall in the late morning and ending by noon. New snow a denser 5 inches. Westerly winds blowing at moderate speeds with some strong gusts transporting snow at upper elevations. Mild air temperatures.
Snowpack: While walking through flat terrain around a creek bottom I experienced frequent collapsing running up to 100 feet breaking on a mid-December weak layer (see images). The depth in this area was around 80cm with a 45cm 4-finger slab. Touring around I experienced collapsing on west through north through easterly aspects with northerly terrain being the least frequent. Snowpack tests showed moderate propagating results. In this area and elevation, the terrain facing southeast, south, and southwest generally was too shallow and lacked a slab for an avalanche problem.

Photos:

5885

Jan. 10, 2023

Anthracites Snowpack

Date of Observation: 01/10/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracite skin track and a few of the typical runs there

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: It was hard to tell how old some of these crowns were, as snowfall and wind were refilling things fast.

East Bowl crown that looked to have propagated a few hundred feet, ending at skier’s right of Friendly Finish, ~D2

Crown about 50 feet wide on steep North facing terrain in the playground area, NTL, ~D2; visible right across the basin from the usual transition spot at the top of most the commonly skied runs at AMR

Pretty wide crown below Ohio sub-peak/Moose’s Tooth(?), maybe a few hundred feet, East facing ATL, ~D2

(topo attached shows drawn solid red lines for obvious crowns, drawn dashed red lines for crowns harder to see clearly)
Weather: Snowing all day, ranging from light to heavy; occasional ridgetop gusts NTL around 20 mph; also noted graupel-like snow for a good portion of the day
Snowpack: Snow total measured 240 cm in our pit. Top meter of snow ramped up from Fist hardness storm snow for about 10 inches to 1F hardness by the bottom of the meter mark, with no obvious weak layers identified. ECTN, small crack at new/old snow interface, and another about 70 cm down.

On windloaded slopes NTL, new snow was consolidating over the course of the day, with our final observations revealing spots of 4F hardness.

Photos:

5884

Jan. 10, 2023

Lower Wolverine Basin

Date of Observation: 01/10/2023
Name: Zach Kinler and Mark Gober

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Slate River TH to Gunsight Pass Rd to lower Wolverine Basin

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: No new avalanches observed. Documented several large natural avalanches that likely failed around 1/4. All were on East aspects below treeline and failed on the 12/21 interface. The largest of these slides propagated close to 500 feet wide, bent a few trees over, and snapped some small branches.
Weather: Warm, light to moderate snow until around 11:00am, calm winds up till about 10,000′ where light winds were present. Stronger winds were seen moving snow on adjacent ridgelines.
Snowpack: Traveled on North and East aspects from 9,000-10,400′. 7″-8″ of new snow, a couple of shovel tilt tests did not produce failures at the new/old interface. HS in this area was at or just above 150cm. The snowpack was quiet on this tour with no cracking or collapses observed skinning up, jumping on small test slopes or when taking skis off and stepping down into the pack. A profile on an East aspect at 10,400′ produced and ECTX and PST 40/100 END on the 12/21 interface which was 100 cm deep. The slab here was up to 1F+ and the weak layer was 4F- and rounding. The 11/28 interface was only 10cm thick at the bottom of the snowpack.

 

5883

Jan. 10, 2023

Gothic Weather report

Date of Observation: 01/10/2023
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite weather.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Cloudy and mild overnight with very light snow after dark becoming moderate around midnight and holding through the night with 6½” new and a dense 0.61″ of water. Currently calm with moderate snow and 23F after a low of 21F. Yesterday’s high 29F with the snowpack at 52″.
Snowpack:

5882

Jan. 10, 2023

Sunny side surface tour

Date of Observation: 01/09/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch Road to southern side of Baldy.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Overcast skies by around 11 am. Periodic light snowfall during the afternoon added up to just less than one inch. Moderate westerly winds with strong gusts at upper elevations. Blowing snow and flagging off the highest terrain.
Snowpack: I rolled through southerly aspects through 11,800 feet checking on surface crust formation from the past few days. A barely discernable crust formed on east aspects that slowly increased in thickness as I swung into southeast, south, and southwest aspects. South and southwest terrain developed a 3cm crust. The snow below the crusts remain soft, but faceting was quite minimal; no real surprise as this snow accumulated last Friday.

A test profile on a southeast slope at 10,000′ (depth 175cm) did not produce any propagating results on the weak layer below the Holiday Slab. Weak layers in the middle and bottom of the snowpack are 4-finger hardness and show signs of rounding.

I did not find any Surface Hoar on my tour around Washington Gulch from the humid air this past weekend.

Photos:

5881

Jan. 09, 2023

Documenting old crowns in Cement Creek area

Date of Observation: 01/08/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Double Top

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more previously undocumented avalanches from the recent cycles, sometime between 1/1 and 1/4

Photos:

5879

Jan. 09, 2023

Documenting old crowns near Brush Creek and Double Top

Date of Observation: 01/08/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Double Top

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Extensive avalanche activity from the New Year cycle, especially near to just below treeline. Some may have run during the 1/3-1/4 cycle as well, hard to say for sure.

Photos:

5878

Jan. 09, 2023

Yule Creek avalanche

Date of Observation: 01/08/2023
Name: Dylan Craaybeek

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Yule Creek

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Recent avalanche above Yule Creek, likely from 1/6 storm. See photo

Photos:

5874

Jan. 09, 2023

Mt. Emmons

Date of Observation: 01/09/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Red Lady Glades-loose dry (yesterday?)
Redwell-big slab (48-72 hours?)
Loose dry on Baldy (<24 hours).
Weather: Few clouds with calm to light winds BTL. Light winds NTL and ATL with moderate gusts with snow transport. Observed NW winds blowing snow on Whetstone. BTL-hot temperatures, almost t-shirt.
Snowpack: Didn’t venture off the skin track except in one spot BTL with no collapsing and cracking. Snow surface warmed up. The Bowl has a crust on top and transitional snow in the bottom of the bowl. Steeper snow is warming quickly. Saw roller on road cuts above the roads.

Photos:

5873

Jan. 08, 2023

Fresh natural persistent slab and numerous collapses from Double Top

Date of Observation: 01/08/2023
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiling Double Top area to 11,700′ on various aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A large persistent slab off of Peak 13550 (Castlelabra?) at the head of Twin Lakes Basin appears as if it ran today triggered by solar warming or a small sluff, on a south aspect above treeline. Numerous small point releases also ran off of Star Peak on sunny aspects. Got good looks at dozens of avalanches that ran during the 12/31 to 1/4 cycles (I’ll document those later in separate obs), and also observed a handful of fresher-looking crowns that probably ran during the 1/6 storm, details and photos below.
Weather: Few clouds, clear skies, inverted temps, some drifting observed off of the alpine this morning. Light winds where we traveled.
Snowpack: Snowpack is still reactive here. We triggered numerous collapses and shooting cracks near and below treeline on various aspects, on roughly 25% of the open, untracked slopes that we crossed. That’s an improvement from a week ago when it was more like 90% during the storm.  The near treeline collapses were more common transitioning from thick to thin areas. Below treeline seemed a bit more random, perhaps more common on sunnier slopes that have a thin crust amplifying the hardness difference between the slab and faceted weak layer. One stability test on an ENE aspect below treeline produced non-propagating fracture on the mid-December dryspell layer (~1.5-2mm fist hard facets). At this location, the depth hoar layer was discontinuous along the ground, but 3-4 mm and fist hard. New surface hoar was developing in valley bottoms; I didn’t see it higher in the terrain.

Photos:

5872

Jan. 08, 2023

Large persistent slab near Richmond

Date of Observation: 01/07/2023
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Baxter Basin

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A large natural avalanche that ran January 6, 2023 in the Ruby Range. See photo.

Photos:

5871

Jan. 08, 2023

Weekly Snowpack Summary December 30 – January 5, 2023

The weekly summary is here. A series of storms since December 27 delivered several feet of snow to the valley, overloading the snowpack and initiating widespread avalanching. The week finished with a clear day that provided excellent views of the many impressive avalanches that ran during the cycle.

 

Weekly Summary December 30-January 5-compressed
Jan. 08, 2023

Very large avalanche off of Gothic today or last night.

Date of Observation: 01/08/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Near Judd Falls TH

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: This slide ran after sunset last night and before 11 this morning, probably during the night. The fracture ran to ground on a wind loaded starting area after a day in which it reached 29F and was sunny. Both branches of the run-out reached the river but did not cross it.

Photos:

5870

Jan. 08, 2023

Recent remote trigger in Wash Gulch

Date of Observation: 01/08/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Coney’s area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One west facing that may have been remote from snowmobile, estimated 24-48 hours old. One west facing that may have been remote from snowmobile
Snowpack: 8 to 12 inches of new snow. We put new skin track in and had no cracking and no collapsing on and off skin track. Stomped convex corner and had nothing. Pole probes above gully where skin track lies above gully did not reveal weak facets layer. Did not penetrate weak facets on the ridge.

Photos:

5868

Jan. 07, 2023

Some older crowns in Ruby Range and Anthracites

Date of Observation: 01/07/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Scarp Ridge

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of previously undocumented large persistent slab avalanches that appeared to fail during the 1/3-1/4 cycle.  Also evidence of large avalanches from earlier in the holiday cycle (12/31-ish) on numerous other alpine slopes, especially SE aspects above treeline.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5867

Jan. 07, 2023

Large explosive results at Irwin and small wind slabs in the Ruby Range

Date of Observation: 01/07/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Explosives triggered a pair of large avalanches in Upper Upper Westwall. Most notably, a single 3# hand charge on a thin spot in the slab produced a crown 115cm x 50m running full track with trees up to 8″ diameter in the debris pile.
A handful of wind slabs ran yesterday or last night up to D1.5 in size. Numerous very small loose dry avalanches ran today from solar warming.
Weather: Few to scattered clouds through the day, light winds with no snow transport.
Snowpack: 36 hour storm totals are 20″ with 1.3″ SWE. Got one large collapse on a low-angle southerly slope where the snowpack is thinner because of wind erosion.

Photos:

5866

Jan. 07, 2023

Gothic wx

Date of Observation: 01/07/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Moderate snowfall through midmorning Friday, then light through the day with heavy periods, though a light density snow. A pause near sunset until moderate snow towards midnight for 3 hours. Clearing near sunrise so 24 hour snow total was 11½” with 0.81″ of water. Snowpack reached 54½” deep. Temperature is dropping as it clears after a high of 26F and current 7F. No wind (always a nice event)

5864

Jan. 07, 2023

Ohio Pass profile

Date of Observation: 01/06/2023
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ohio Pass
Snowpack: See profile

Photos:

5863

Jan. 06, 2023

Big and stubborn along Kebler Corridor

Date of Observation: 01/06/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Standard Axtell uptrack and descended a recent bedsurface/debris pile in 2nd Bowl. Then snowmobiled out to Beckwith Pass, traveling mostly below treeline.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several recent large and very large avalanches in Axtell. 2nd Bowl had what appeared to be two unique events that both reached valley floor. The first likely ran during the 12/31-1/1 cycle, evidenced by about 12″ of new on the bedsurface. The second and larger of the two likely ran during the 1/3-1/4 cycle, evidenced by only last night’s snow on the debris. There were a couple of other large avalanches on smaller terrain features in 2nd Bowl. All crowns were about 4 feet thick and failed on depth hoar near the ground. The Wang Chung slide put a big debris pile in valley bottom as well, likely another D3. I couldn’t see if the crown extended into Pencil or not.
Weather: Moderate to heavy snowfall most of the day. There was about 6″ of new near Beckwith Pass at noon, and it came down hard on our way out. Blowing snow near treeline.
Snowpack: Today’s objective was to target sensitivity of below treeline slopes in the shallower fringe areas of the NW Mtns. Stubborn fits well; jumping above and sidehilling across numerous slopes did not produce any signs of instability, and we saw no collapses. The mid-December layer is showing significant improvement (~1mm, rounding) and didn’t produce failures in tests. However, we did still get propagating results (once on isolation, once on hard loading) on the depth hoar layer at the ground, on a north-facing slope of Mt. Axtell.

Photos:

5862

Jan. 06, 2023

Just a few more from NW Mountains

Date of Observation: 01/06/2023
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Silver Queen Express lift

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Documenting a few more large avalanches from the recent cycle.
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5861

Jan. 05, 2023

Near and Below treeline action in SE Mtns.

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB looking east towards Pearl Pass, Doubletop, etc, looking at the western half of the compass.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lots of action above treeline that looks fresh, likely from the 1/3-1/4 cycle, generally on cross-drifted features from the NW winds, D2 in size. Also a lot of activity at all elevations that looks a bit older, likely from the 12/31-1/1 cycle. Only documenting the larger slides (D2), plenty of smaller ones too.

Photos:

5860

Jan. 05, 2023

Northwest Mtns zone avalanches from 1/3-1/4 cycle

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Pavement observations

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more avalanches that failed during the 1/3 – 1/4 avalanche cycle. Avalanches came from drifted north through east through southeast slopes.
Weather: Some drifting above treeline was visible from westerly winds.

Photos:

5859

Jan. 05, 2023

Alpine action in SE Mtns

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB looking east towards Pearl Pass, Doubletop, etc, looking at the western half of the compass.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lots of action above treeline that looks fresh, likely from the 1/3-1/4 cycle, generally on cross-drifted features from the NW winds, D2 in size. Also a lot of activity at all elevations that looks a bit older, likely from the 12/31-1/1 cycle. Only documenting the larger slides (D2), plenty of smaller ones too.
Weather: Some light drifting still occurring on high peaks.

Photos:

 

5858

Jan. 05, 2023

Few more natural avalanches in SE Mtns from 1/3-1/4

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Pavement obs

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Recent natural avalanches on southwest gully on Red Ridge, northeast-facing slope on Emmons above Gunsight Road, and upper snowpack avalanche in Raccoon Bowl on Emmons. See photos
Weather: While glassing for avalanches, I did see periods of moderate snow transport above treeline.
Snowpack:

Photos:

5857

Jan. 05, 2023

Poverty Gulch avalanche

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Cheese _

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Poverty Gulch

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The sidehill on Poverty went pretty big.

Photos:

5855

Jan. 05, 2023

Avalanche activity

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Below treeline, NE aspect.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Pockets the Clown looks to have jumped drainages and become a bit more widespread and angrier in his activity bouncing around aspects and wreaking some havoc. One that had pulled out previously on a shaded north aspect below treeline ran down the creek bed spilling out nearby a common skin track. Another one on a S/SE aspect hit a common snowmobile route. Not big but still reached it. Also, pocket had pulled out on the steepest pitch of our descent, probably two days ago as there was some new snow in the avalanche path
Weather: It felt warm, and then felt cold. Saw some rollerballs on S/SW aspects around 1:30. Snow on the skin track wall facing SW got warm enough to cause sticking at 2 p.m. Winds out of the SW (?) whipped up temporarily up high around 1 p.m. transporting snow.
Snowpack: Top 14 inches was thicker than previous two days on similar aspect in a different drainage. No signs of instability where we skied today.

Photos:

5854

Jan. 05, 2023

Drone photos of Climax avalanche

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Connor Scalbom

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Climax Chutes

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Photos of Climax Chutes submitted via @connography_

Photos:

5853

Jan. 05, 2023

Robinson Basin wide crown

Date of Observation: 01/04/2023
Name: Dave Kozlowski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Robinson Basin

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: See photos of a very wide propagating persistent slab avalanche in Robinson Basin, likely ran the night of 1/3 to 1/4.

Photos:

5851

Jan. 05, 2023

Climax Chutes details

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Kevin Krill

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Below Climax Chutes

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I drove over the pile on Mike’s and then around the toe of the debris. Guessing 15-20′ deep for 200 yards. Could be one of the biggest debris piles I’ve driven over in my tenure. The three main paths and all of the smaller ones on lookers right cleaned out. The two on the lookers left did not go.

Photos:

5850

Jan. 05, 2023

Whetstone slides and Red Lady Bowl photos

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Evan Kezsbom

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Whetstone and Emmons

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: See photos of recent persistent slab avalanches on Emmons and Whetstone. Photo credit: @evankezsbomphotography

Photos:

5849

Jan. 05, 2023

Photo of Red Lady Avalanche

Date of Observation: 01/05/2023
Name: Nate Pearson

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Photo from front deck

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Providing additional photo angle of previously reported large avalanche in Red Lady Bowl.

Photos:

5848

Jan. 05, 2023

Irwin Guides Cat Ski avalanche observations

Date of Observation: 01/04/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Terrain near Irwin Cat Ski.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Bender failed on 10 cm’s of small grain facets on the ground. The crown was 4′ at
it’s apex.  SS-N-R3-D2.5-O/G Large Natural that most likely ran last night avg. 1m crown started below thin line and connected over to SS L. 11,600K S-SSE aspect 90 cm X 150m X 80m

Numerous naturals size 1-2 UUWW,
Large Natural D2.5 above Robinson Basin ESE aspect approx. 150 m wide, 11,300K, along with another D2.5 below
Pete Rose S aspect 11,700K
Bender SS-AE-R3-D2.5-O FC (90cm x 70m x 150m)
Weather: OVC, 10 @ SP and single digits up top. W 20>10 G 30’s, trace of new.
Snowpack: Stiff stubborn wind slabs up high on W. Unreactive SS across all lower elevations on
the West Wall. Ski quality is still good although ski pen in down to 30 cm’s from yesterdays white room
conditions. E – SE was heavily loaded HS 130-150 cm’s. 4″ of settlement today.

Photos:

5847

Jan. 05, 2023

Red Lady Bowl Wall to Wall

Date of Observation: 01/04/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard skin track up Mount Emmons to Red Lady Bowl and descent down Glades.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A very large avalanche in Red Lady Bowl that broke full-width wrapping from the skin track ridgeline all the way across bowl to saddle with Red Racoon. Crown up to 8 feet thick. With just a skiff of new snow on the bed surface.  The debris was hard to see in the poor vis, but I estimate it only ran half of the potential track.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with light snow, generally light wind with moderate gusts occasionally transporting snow.
Snowpack: I dug a profile on a near treeline slope with a depth of 150cm that produced an ECTP 30 and PST end 45/100 on basal facets. I found Surface Hoar at this location sitting above the 12/20 crust that produced PST end 30/100. While exiting the profile site, our group collapsed the slope. Slabs near the treeline were around a meter thick with 40cm being 1finger hard.

Photos:

5846

Jan. 04, 2023

Couple more avalanche obs in Washington Gulch

Date of Observation: 01/04/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The southwest side of Gothic Mountain had a couple of fresh avalanches that likely ran last night or early this morning. Could only see 1 well, it was a cross-loaded SW terrain feature, above treeline, D2.5. Another one of the bowls also looked to have some debris at the bottom but I never got a good view of it.

ZG had previously documented several avalanches off of Anthracite Mesa on January 2nd, and there had been one more D2 avalanche on an ESE slope near treeline since his observation. It didn’t necessarily look fresh, but otherwise ran in the last couple of days.

Weather: Mostly cloudy through the first 3/4th of the day. A few flakes fell throughout the day but no notable accumulation. Moderate winds near ridgeline during the AM.

Photos:

5845

Jan. 04, 2023

Slate Observations

Date of Observation: 01/04/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobile to Pittsburg, decided against skiing after seeing the number of slides that had run.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Quite a few natural avalanches on E and W aspects of the valley.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5842

Jan. 04, 2023

Gothic Weather

Date of Observation: 01/04/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Cloudy, windy and mild overnight with the 24 hour snow totals just 1½” and water of 0.14″ with snowpack settling to 46″. Some drifting snow yesterday afternoon and overnight. High temp 20F low 10, current 11. Snowpack starting to settle and set up better. Currently cloudy and windy but not snowing, though blowing snow.

5841

Jan. 03, 2023

Cement Creek below treeline

Date of Observation: 01/03/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek TH along roadway to mid-Cement area toured near ‘Grassy Hill’ and Hunter Creek on westerly aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I observed a few recent small avalanches in lower Cement Creek near the Summer Home group parking area on north and east slopes. While snowmobiling up Reno Road, we came across a natural avalanche that piled debris on the Road from a west-facing slope. We remotely triggered a pair of avalanches open west-facing terrain that broke in very weak snow near the ground (this terrain likely sat very shallow from west winds earlier this winter). Sometimes we needed to hop or stab a ski through the slab to get a collapse…certainly not hard, but not effortless. We may have remotely triggered a small slope while snowmobiling at valley bottom on our way in and noticed it on the way out.
Weather: Overcast skis with mostly light snow with a few periods of moderate intensity around midday. Winds remained light, with a few exposed areas showing signs of recent wind effect.
Snowpack: We mainly traveled on westerly aspects below treeline with depths ranging from 90 to 120cm depending on wind erosion earlier this winter. We experienced two large booming collapses and several moderate-sized collapses. I suspect many of the meadows we crossed previously collapsed during high-intensity snowfall on Sunday. The south half of the compass below treeline in this area has developed enough slab over the past week to overload weak facets and crust/facet combinations at the bottom of the snowpack. Collapsing, snowpack tests (see below), and remotely triggered avalanches all point to easy human triggering of avalanches below treeline.

Photos:

5840

Jan. 03, 2023

Remote Trigger on Snodgrass + Pit Observations!!!!!

Date of Observation: 01/03/2023
Name: Whitney Gilliam

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: We were traveling on the lookers left side of the typical Snodgrass skinner (below tree line, elevation ~10,400ft) and triggered the slope opposite us that was about 300m away. The avalanche went on a convex roll on an E/NE facing slope. It appeared to go to the ground (hence all the grass in the photo). Prior to seeing this beautiful avalanche from a distance, we had a large collapse and wumph where we were in the trees (SE facing slope BTL).

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: ~D2 size avalanche on a E/NE facing slope. Remote triggered.
Weather: Winds – Light, predominantly from the south
Light to moderate snowfall (AW YEAHHH keep it comin!)
Overcast
Snowpack: Pit dug on an E aspect BTL (~10,800ft elevation, in the aspens near California bowl on Snodgrass) slope angle was about 10degrees.
Results:
All failed on the same mid-December PWL
CTM Q1
ECTP 19
PSTend 35/100

Photos:

5839

Jan. 03, 2023

Clowny clown clown

Date of Observation: 01/03/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Flat, up and then down on NE aspect below treeline on the border of the NW and SE forecast zones.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Pockets the Clown had a couple of tricks up his sleeve, actually in his pant leg, as he shook some treats out of his pockets on a steeper roll at the bottom when skied.
Weather: calm in the trees, windy transporting snow on the ridge to add a little nice nice for the shred.
Snowpack: Ummm… good for skiing 30-degree slopes and shallower. 14″ of goodness on top of denser snow.

Photos:

5838

Jan. 03, 2023

W-NW flow delivers

Date of Observation: 01/03/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Broken sled retrieval mission out Washington Gulch to Elkton

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Ski triggered a pair of small slabs in the new snow on a drifted rollover, about 12” thick. Vis was too poor to see much avalanche terrain.
Weather: Snowing heavily through most of the day. Elkton had about 14” of fluffy snow by midday. Coneys area had about 8” to 10”. Light to moderate winds near treeline with periods of significant blowing snow.
Snowpack: Stability test below treeline near the boundary of our two forecast zones produced hard, propagating results in depth hoar (F) under a 120 cm soft slab.

Photos:

5836

Jan. 03, 2023

Mt. CB avalanche

Date of Observation: 01/03/2023

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: South side of Mt. Crested Butte

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Buckhorn couloir. Looked like it originated in the trees and came down. Hard to say if p slab or storm snow.

Photos:

5835

Jan. 03, 2023

Gothic Update

Date of Observation: 01/03/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread slide activity in this area though except for very steep areas on Gothic most slides were from the new snow and did not carry far, and all small except one moderate one off Gothic. This new snow overnight should not affect much as it is light and not all that much of it.
Weather: Only very light scattered snow Monday until after dark, then it picked up towards sunrise with 4½” new and water a light 0.26″ with little wind and even a bit of clearing Monday afternoon. Currently 48″ on the ground- winters deepest with light to moderate snow and no wind and no visibility.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
5834

Jan. 02, 2023

South and West aspects came alive

Date of Observation: 01/02/2023
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Dog walk through town.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A good number of large natural avalanches on South and West aspects from the recent cycle. Hard to tell exactly where in the snowpack they broke but several were widely propagating with crowns several feet deep suggesting they broke on weak layers within the snowpack. Some crowns looked quite fresh likely breaking within the last 24 hours while others likely broke earlier in the cycle.
Weather: Partly cloudy skies, light westerly winds, cool temps.
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5833

Jan. 02, 2023

A few more avalanches from lower Washington Gulch

Date of Observation: 01/02/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Washington Gulch road

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more persistent slabs that ran over the weekend, up to D2.5. See photos and details below.

Photos:

5832

Jan. 02, 2023

Elkton avalanches

Date of Observation: 01/02/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on various aspects off of Elkton Knob, most commonly on west and southwest below treeline.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The Elkton area saw a decent D2 cycle over the weekend on many steep slopes, various aspects. Soft slabs were generally 2 to 3 feet thick, failing on mid-December facets. In contrast, the Purple Palace area appeared to be relatively quiet during the cycle, perhaps because of Arctic Blast wind effects on the weak layer there. I stomped around on top of a couple of small, steep slopes and triggered one persistent slab that was 3 feet thick (4F) over fist hard 1mm facets on a west facing slope. There was also evidence of avalanche activity earlier in the storm on Baldy, Purple Ridge, and Schuylkill Ridge. Light was too flat to see much else.
Weather: Light snow showers on and off through the day, with bouts of sunshine too. Light to moderate ridgetop winds with blowing snow off of Mt. Baldy.
Snowpack: Fairly quiet while breaking trail and skinning. We got one collapse and chatted with another group in the same area that got several large collapses and shooting cracks. Slabs are consolidating and ski pen is now ankle deep, making for good turns on the low angle.

Photos:

5831

Jan. 02, 2023

Kebler Area

Date of Observation: 01/02/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Pass area. All aspects. Up to 10,700ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several very small storm slabs. 1 to 2″ thick. Some releasing naturally and some human triggered, only on the steepest slopes near or above 40 degrees.

Weather: Overcast, calm wind. heavy snowfall started around 11am and lasted for about 1 or 1.5 hours. The sun started poking through a few times around mid-day or early afternoon on the way home.

Snowpack: Plenty of test slopes around 35 degrees on all aspects and some much steeper. Most slopes were 100ft vertical or less. Some were a couple of hundred vertical feet. The PSa problem presented no obvious signs of instability as has been the case recently in similar terrain. No shooting cracks or collapses. Otherwise, any slab displacement downhill in these areas may often be held up in the compression of the slopes, given how thick the slab has become.

Got some ok views of the Dyke, steep stuff below Floresta, Axtel 1/2 bowl and 1st bowl, and the track of 2nd bowl. Of course the Kebler corridor too. Noting stood out through the little windows that presented.

5830

Jan. 02, 2023

Gothic Wx

Date of Observation: 01/02/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Weather: Cloudy with light snow much of Sunday but very dense, then light snow into the night with wind at times and some snow movement. The 24 hour snow total was just 4″ with again a very dense water content of 0.45″. The snowpack is at winters deepest of 47″. Currently a little bit of clearing with a light SW wind with the temperature at the 24 hour low of 21F after a high of 29F. December was 2% above average in snowfall and 33% above in water from snow. billy

5828

Jan. 01, 2023

Irwin Cat Ski avalanche activity

Date of Observation: 01/01/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread Touchy Storm Slabs yesterday 12/31. There was a notable natural avalanche cycle on the Upper Upper West Wall that produced 3-5 large avalanches. This terrain has not been mitigated or skied this season and was predominantly scoured down to rock prior to 12/28. Lingering Storm Slabs were more resistant to explosive and skier testing in our core westerly terrain today. However, easterly start zones that were previously Unreactive reached a tipping point: a single hand charge cleared out almost all of Candies and Sonic to the ground (SS-AE-R2-D2-G FC (100cm x 75m x 150m)). This is southeasterly terrain from about 12k. We also had a small but impressive natural event today on The Crotch apron in a recently wind loaded pocket (HS-N-R2/D1.5-O/G 50-100 cm x 10m x 40m). This is SSW terrain at 11.8k and ran O/G with a crown of 1m at its apex.
Snowpack: We received 45″ of snow with 3.5 inches of water over two storm cycles since 12/28. The second cycle was notable for very warm temps, multiple riming events that laid down thin friable crusts at lower elevations, and several hardness inversions in the new snow.

5827

Jan. 01, 2023

New Year’s Deep POW Day at Taylor Park

Date of Observation: 01/01/2023
Name: Travis Tucker

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: A braap out to River’s End Campground from the Trading Post.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: None observed.
Weather: Temp: H of 36*
Wind: Calm
Sky: Obscured (x)
Precip: S1 most of the day.
Snowpack: HS: 45 – 150cm
On a shallower North facing slope near road / Trading Post…
28 cm of 4F
7cm of 2-3mm FC
15cm of 3-5mm DH

CT15 SC down 28cm on 3-5mm DH
ECTP 18 “ “

Photos:

5826

Jan. 01, 2023

Upper Cement Creek fell apart today

Date of Observation: 01/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiled Cement Creek to the base of Hunter Hill.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread and ongoing natural and remotely triggered persistent slab activity that appeared to start last night and go through today, localized to Upper Cement Creek (east of Deadman’s Trailhead). In that upper basin, almost every single steep slope that we rode near remotely avalanched if it hadn’t already gone naturally. Dozens of small creek beds released, and we triggered about half a dozen larger slopes just riding in the flats. More natural avalanches than I could count. Crowns were generally about 2 feet thick, and most appeared to fail on the mid-December facet layer. Small terrain features produced D1-1.5s, and larger terrain produced D2s. Avalanches were occurring on all aspects, which are generally E, SE, W, and NW below treeline in this basin. Couldn’t see the alpine.
Weather: Light snowfall with a few moderate pulses. Calm winds below treeline.
Snowpack: This might have been one of the most widespread, touchy persistent slab days I’ve ever experienced in my career; truly fascinating and blatantly dangerous. Human triggering felt almost certain. Riding into open slopes consistently produced rumbling collapses with trees shaking hundreds of yards away, shooting cracks opening on moderate angled slopes, and almost everything steeper than 35 degrees would slide. Collapses occurred on mid-December facets and depth hoar, which are now in the bottom 3rd of the snowpack below a 60 to 90 cm slab. Tests produced sudden collapses on isolation in the depth hoar (ECTPV). Near the trailhead, I watched a small dog step off the road and trigger a shooting crack across a slope. In Lower Cement, slabs are thinner (~30 cm), and better anchored by ground roughness, sagebrush, etc, thus the danger was less threatening.

Photos:

5825

Jan. 01, 2023

Bracken Creek area

Date of Observation: 01/01/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiling down the road.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Message from a friend up Bracken Creek that I thought I would pass along. Blue is where it slid, buried the road where the red mark is. Possibly triggered by snowmobiles but unconfirmed. That’s all the info I have.

Photos:

5824

Jan. 01, 2023

Natural avalanche above Long Lake and on Whetstone.

Date of Observation: 01/01/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Pavement views.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A brief view (too short a window to get photos or code individual avalanches) of numerous natural avalanches on the down valley end of Whestone. Northeast, east, and southeast aspects near and above treeline. The ground was showing in some of the bed surfaces and some appeared to propagate widely like in Lucky Boy Basin. Large natural avalanche observed above Long Lake at the Washington Gulch TH.
Weather: Consistent light snow after 1030am.
Snowpack:

Photos:

5823

Jan. 01, 2023

Ohio Pass Road covered by avalanches

Date of Observation: 01/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ohio Pass.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several large avalanches covered Ohio Pass Road. One of these ran yesterday reported by a group of snowmobilers. Unclear whether it was triggered or natural. The other two ran this morning.

Photos:

5822

Jan. 01, 2023

Destructive avalanches in SE Mtns.

Date of Observation: 01/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Brief visibility this morning of large to very large avalanches on Whetstone and Gothic.

Photos:

5821

Jan. 01, 2023

Destructive slides in NW Mtns

Date of Observation: 01/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Brief visibility this morning of large to very large avalanches on Axtell, Augusta, and Scarp Ridge. Unfortunately, by the time I got to a good vantage of the Ruby Range, the clouds were back.

Photos:

5820

Dec. 31, 2022

Elkton Remote Trigger

Date of Observation: 12/31/2022
Name: Benny Walter

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Text message ob sent in from Elkton

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: East facing at 10,600 probably 40 degree slope remotely triggered from the tracks 200 feet to the lookers right. 50cmish at the crown 100 ft wide.

Photos:

5819

Dec. 31, 2022

Lower Kebler Pass

Date of Observation: 12/31/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Lower Kebler Pass. Variety of aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Few small storm slabs.

Weather: Overcast. Light down-valley winds in the afternoon. Snowing S1 to S2

Snowpack: Quick tour, mostly targeting some NE slopes BTL in lower Elk Creek. Other than a few small storm slabs, nothing notable in the lower Elk Creek area or near the road on Kebler. Traveled on several small test slopes, and near-defined avalanche terrain with no obvious signs of instability.

ENE, 31-degree slope, BTL that does see wind-loading. HS 153. The recent storm interfaces were down about 15cm and 25cm. December 20th was down about 70cm. ECTP 3 on the lower storm interface. ECTN 24 on 12/20. The 12/20 interface was very thin and difficult to see in the pit wall, but still defined 1mm NSF on the card.

Photos:

5818

Dec. 31, 2022

CB Town ENE

Date of Observation: 12/31/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Near town. 9,100ft. ENE.

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Overcast. Calm winds. Lull in the snow this morning, otherwise snowing most of the day.

Snowpack: Skinning was horrible in the upside-down upper snowpack. Didn’t travel through much terrain, but no notable obvious signs to instability. Targeted one quick profile on a 36-degree, 90cm, ENE slope at about 9,100ft. The thick portion of the storm slab was only about 3cm, with soft snow above and below. Shovel tilts easily produced results in the upper 15cm of the snowpack. The December facets are still large and prominent, but the snowpack is still generally soft and soft. A small storm slab in this terrain would have easily gouged and entrained the weak snowpack if the slope was steep enough.

Photos:

5816

Dec. 31, 2022

Remote trigger below Gothic Road

Date of Observation: 12/31/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Nordic skied first mile of Gothic Road. Walked few hundred feet below the road to get above a steep northeast-facing slope.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Remote triggered an avalanche on a northeast-facing slope. Did not hear the collapse, but saw the powder cloud form out the bottom. It broke in three places and as it ran entrained much of the generally weak snowpack.
Weather: S2 snowfall from 1130 to1. Winds light with little evidence of recent blowing snow on roadway.
Snowpack:

Photos:

5815

Dec. 31, 2022

Large avalanches on Emmons

Date of Observation: 12/31/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Mt Emmons, mostly on SE aspects BTL

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A pair of fresh large natural avalanches in Racoon Basin. There were small trees in the debris, and I’m guessing they broke on the mid December later based on crown size. One smaller slab that broke in the new snow on a drifted feature.
Weather: Moderate snowfall rates all morning with a few heavy pulses. Light to moderate snow transport at ridgetop
Snowpack: Top heavy 8” of storm snow produced clean shears. Moderate propagating test results below the mid December facet crust layer, about 70 cm deep. Got a few muffled collapses on that layer but still relatively quiet where we were (on low angle terrain).  Slab is consolidating and getting noticeably denser compared to similar slopes yesterday.

Photos:

5814

Dec. 30, 2022

RMBL Gothic Snow Study Plot 12.30.22

Date of Observation: 12/30/2022
Name: Sophia Todorov

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: RMBL Snow Study Plot in parking lot in front of Dining Hall

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Light snow, overcast, calm, about 15 degrees F

Snowpack: Easy to delineate 3 distinct layers in the snowpack. Top half (34cm) is fresh precipitation from current storm cycle. Middle layer is faceted and very weak (19cm thickness). However, we did not observe any collapse or propagation during an extended column test. ECTX. no result from an extended column test.

Photos:

5813

Dec. 30, 2022

AMR in between storms

Date of Observation: 12/30/2022
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: AMR

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small skier triggered storm slab at the convexity lower skiers right big chute where it often slides

Snowpack: Surprisingly quiet except for the storm slab release previously mentioned. Other ski cuts and stomping around on little wind lips yielded no results

Photos:

5812

Dec. 30, 2022

Irwin Guides cat ski control work

Date of Observation: 12/29/2022
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Guides tenure.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We triggered several avalanche events with explosives in the process of cleaning up Persistent Slab problems in our easterly zone. Other than that, stability was generally good.

SS-AE-R1-D1-I PP (20cm x 15m x 80m)
HS-AE-R2-D2-I PP (50cm x 20m x 175m)
Weather:
Snowpack:

5810

Dec. 29, 2022

The weekly summary is here. A 20+ inch storm of heavier-than-average snow on Wednesday 12/27 brought winter back to the valley and High avalanche danger. More snow is on the way for this weekend and the avalanche danger will rise accordingly.

 

 

Weekly Summary December 23-29 updated-compressed
Dec. 29, 2022

Quiet on the Elkton Front

Date of Observation: 12/29/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch to Elkton Knob area.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Visibility was obscured all day, but I did get a view of two natural avalanches off Gothic Mountain. One was reported In Zach ob earlier today. The other was on a near treeline southwest-facing slope; it appeared to break only in the recent storm snow based on depth, D1.5 best guess.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies, with very light but consistent snowfall through 3pm. Total storm depth through 3pm at 11,000 feet near Elkton was about 22 inches. Westerly winds blew at light speeds with moderate gusts throughout the day. Some snow transport near treeline and modest loading above treeline.
Snowpack: I traveled mostly through near treeline terrain. I experienced no signs of instability underfoot other than some ski-length cracks on drifted easterly terrain. I did not observe any buried surface hoar. The new snow remains dense but relatively soft. In this near treeline terrain, the 12/20 facet layer is capped by a thin windboard from last week’s wind event. A test profile produced no propagating results (see photo). Basal depth hoar remains in the Fist plus or 4 finger minus hardness range. This storm appeared to not quite be enough load to cause widespread natural activity for the ‘snowbelt’ region but, as mentioned above, visibility was obscured.

Photos:

5809

Dec. 29, 2022

A quick RLG

Date of Observation: 12/29/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard Red Lady skinner to the glades.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Saw 2 naturals on a SE aspect around 11,200′ that failed late yesterday with several inches of snow in the bed surfaces. Both released on surface/hoar resting on a thin melt-freeze crust. D1-D1.5 in size. Crowns were around 10″.
Weather: Cloudy and cold, westerly winds were light in lower elevation sheltered terrain but moderate near and above treeline.
Snowpack: Fairly quiet snowpack when departing the skin track and on the descent. The recent collapses have been very quiet so possibly didn’t hear some of them. There was around 12″ of recent snowfall on the 12/27 interface. On south and southeast aspects this layer was surface hoar resting on a 2-3 cm crust. SH did not look as large or well-developed as other slopes I have seen. Looks to be decomposing a bit and getting entrained in the slab. It still produced easy hand sheers and is weak. Stomping on a few east and southeast slopes from the ridge did not produce any results.

 

[/gravityforms]
5808

Dec. 29, 2022

Gothic natural and some skier triggered slabs

Date of Observation: 12/29/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Anthracite Mesa, traveling on various aspects to 10,800′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Large natural slab avalanche likely ran this morning on a southwest facing slope of Gothic, to the ground. Skier triggered a couple of thin soft slabs that failed within the storm snow on lightly cross-drifted southerly terrain. Had decent vis of the Lower Slate from Birthday Bowl on Skooks to Happy Chutes and only saw a handful of loose dry avalanches.
Weather: Very light snowfall. Light winds with occasional moderate gusts causing brief periods of blowing snow. Cold temps.
Snowpack: 35 to 40 cm of F to F+ snow down to our most recent facet (1mm) and crust/facet layers. This interface produced only minor cracking and non-propagating results in quick tests. No signs of buried surface hoar here. In lightly wind-drifted terrain exposed to down valley winds, we produced shooting cracks and triggered a couple of soft slabs breaking on precip particles within the storm snow, up to 25 cm thick or so. One was remotely triggered from 20 meters away.

Photos:

5807

Dec. 29, 2022

Gothic weather

Date of Observation: 12/29/2022
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Light snow during the day with 4″ new and 0.24 SWE, then snow last night ending by midnight with 3″ more and water 0.21″ so the 24 hour total was 7″ new and 0.45″ of water content. It remained cloudy and calm while warming to freezing and then cooling to 11F overnight. Currently overcast and not snowing with a light westerly wind and 13º with a light wind. Snowpack is at 37″. billy

5806

Dec. 28, 2022

Snoddy

Date of Observation: 12/28/2022
Name: Jack Caprio

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass. Northeast side

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We skier triggered plenty of loose dry avalanches in the new snow. Some of the loose dry avalanches entrained into old snow.

We intentionally skier triggered 3 soft slab avalanches failing deeper into the snowpack. In both 1st and 2nd bowl, we triggered soft slab avalanches breaking below the new/ old snow interface.

The loose dry avalanches failed on the 12/27 interface, where as the slab avalanches broke 6-8” below the 12/27 interface (see photos).

We remotely triggered a soft slab avalanche off the gothic road-cut on our way out (<D1)
Weather: S-1 snowfall all day. Warm temps. Overcast skies.
Snowpack: 6-9” of new, high density snow. On northeast aspects below treeline, the new snow fell on top of very weak snow surfaces.

Photos:

5805

Dec. 28, 2022

Emmons

Date of Observation: 12/28/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Red Coon glades

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: No signs of instability were observed.
Weather: Warm. Estimated air temp was 40F
Light snow most of the day. S-1
No wind
Snowpack: Storm snow was 7”. HS was a meter
The surface conditions were stellar s with no wind effect. No wind texture at all.
The old snow new interface had an old sun crust but the new seemed to bond well

5804

Dec. 28, 2022

Dense storm snow and buried Surface Hoar

Date of Observation: 12/28/2022
Name: Eric Murrow Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Pass to Anthracites standard skin track.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: No natural avalanches. Observed two small human-triggered avalanches by other parties on east and northeast aspects. We remotely triggered 3 separate avalanches, D1 and D1.5, on northeast, southeast, and south aspects. All of the avalanches we triggered failed on Surface Hoar immediately beneath the storm snow.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with light snowfall throughout the day. The height of storm snow at 2pm was about 13 inches with 1.3″ of water. Winds remained light at the ridgetop with no drifting observed.
Snowpack: In each place we looked, northeast through east through southeast through south near and below treeline, we found 6 – 9 mm surface hoar beneath the storm snow. The collapses that triggered the avalanches mentioned were quiet and hard to hear or notice. One of the avalanches on a southeast aspect was triggered from 150 feet away. Whether the weak layer was buried surface hoar, the 12/20 facets, or within the storm snow, it seemed likely to trigger a small avalanche in the surface snow (some long slopes could have approached D2 size). On southerly slopes, a melt-freeze crust formed in the past few days that have the potential to collapse and produce avalanches with more snowfall this weekend. Below the crusts, the snowpack was only lightly faceted but remains soft and collapsable. The biggest takeaway was buried surface hoar, in open areas, beneath the recent storm snow on most aspects near and below treeline in this area.

Photos:

5803

Dec. 28, 2022

Depth hoar waking from its slumber

Date of Observation: 12/28/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Morning tour in the East River area near Gothic road, around 9500’ on easterly aspects

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I ski triggered and saw a handful of natural loose dry avalanches this morning that entrained old snow, D1 in size. Later in the morning, I skier triggered a few soft slab avalanches with minor propagation, that failed on the 12/20 facet layer, about 10” deep.
Weather: Snowfall rates tapered to very light by mid morning. Calm winds.
Snowpack: About 7” to 9” of new snow, started out incohesive and sluffy and settled to slabbier as the day warmed up. By late morning, I started getting shooting cracks up to 20’ and triggered a few small soft slabs on test slopes, breaking on our most recent facet layer. More notable, I got several rumbling collapses in flatter terrain that failed on the depth hoar at the ground, about 3 feet deep. All of the steep pitches that I approached had either shed that more dangerous structure previously, or winds eroded it last week.

Photos:

5802

Dec. 28, 2022

Gothic 7am Weather Update

Date of Observation: 12/28/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Obscured with moderate to heavy snow since starting 12 hours ago with 9½” new and water content 0.82″ and no wind (hooray for that). It stayed very warm last night with the morning low the current 27F after a high yesterday of 41F. Currently snowing moderately with no wind and no visibility. Snowpack is at winters deepest of 31½”. There was a bit of crusting on southern slopes yesterday but now buried.

5801

Dec. 27, 2022

Weak in the Interior

Date of Observation: 12/27/2022
Name: Zach Kinler and Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: West Brush Creek

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: A couple of very small facet sluffs on steep, sheltered East aspects.
Weather: Cool and moist in the valley to start the day with clouds thickening. Nice and warm once we were out of the inversion, light southerly winds in open areas.
Snowpack: We traveled on east and southeast slopes from 9,800′-11,400′. The upper half of the snowpack in this zone is very weak. Southeast slopes had an HS of 50cm. Surfaces were a 3cm crust followed by 10cm of moist rounds. Below that was a thin crust with facets above and below. The bottom 30cm were moist grains to the ground. Moving into east, HS was 60cm, the surface crust was not present just 30cm of fist hard large-grain facets above a 4F faceting slab. 3-4 mm Surface Hoar was present from valley bottom to over 11,000ft on east aspects.

 

5800

Dec. 27, 2022

The weak layer trifecta

Date of Observation: 12/27/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: PM Snodgrass tour, poking into 1st Bowl, 2nd Bowl, and 3rd Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered several small facet sluffs that entrained weak snow to the ground. These were in start zones that ran earlier this month.
Weather: Light snowfall started around 3:30 pm.
Snowpack: The snow surface was widespread small grained near surface facets on all aspects. Near the trailhead I found surface hoar up to 4-5mm, but I did not see it anywhere else along my tour, including the main start zones near ridgetop. All three of the start zones that I looked at had avalanched previously and held a very shallow snowpack with very weak facets (2mm) that sluffed easily. The snowpack elsewhere is faceted throughout, weak layer size and strength correlated to snow depth, ranging from 1-2mm. Southerlies held one or two collapsible crusts up to a few cm thick with facets above and below. Wind exposed terrain had a mix of wind crusts and thin hard wind slab over these layers.

Photos:

5799

Dec. 27, 2022

Irwin Obs

Date of Observation: 12/27/2022
Name: Tom Schaefer

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Snow safety mitigation Irwin tenure E aspect 11’600′ 37 deg slope angle.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: #1 HS-AB-R2-D2-O. 40 cm’s X 55m X 60m
#2 HS-ASu-R2-D2-O. 40 cm’s X 40m X 60m
Both failed on a thin layer of 1mm FC above a thin MFC 30 cm’s above the ground.
Avalanche #2 was triggered unintentionally from the flank mid slope as we tiptoed onto it after a cover shot was placed higher on the slab.

Weather: OVC, 32 deg. SW 20-30 mph.

Snowpack: HS 30-80 cm’s variable snow pack ranging from wind stiffened to pockets of weak facets and sun crusts.

Photos:

5798

Dec. 26, 2022

Checking in on the sunny side

Date of Observation: 12/26/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Primarily SE to SW between 10,000ft and 11,000ft.

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Few clouds in the morning becoming overcast in the afternoon. Calm wind.

Snowpack: Targeted three test profiles, specifically looking at the upper snowpack, on SE, S and SW. The two most prominent interfaces are in the upper 15 to 35cm’s of the snowpack, depending on location, (12/11 and 12/20). On the south and southeast, the grains at those interfaces are around 1mm in size and notably rounding. The rest of the mid and upper snowpack at these locations had little change in hardness and looked generally strong, at least compared to current big-picture conditions. In the SW profile, the HS was notably less, and those two interfaces had slightly smaller grains, but they remained faceted and were not rounding.

Aspect: SE. Elev: 11,250. Slope: 30. HS: 103. 12/20 interface down 15cm and 12/11 interface down 25cm. 1mm rounding faceted particles at both interfaces. Some necking between grains. CTM, ECTN 15.

Aspect: S. Elev: 10,850. Slope: 30. HS: 128. Cross-loaded slope. The two interfaces were down 25cm and 30cm. Similar grains to the SE aspect. ECT PC 17, interestingly two additional loading steps were required to get the fracture to cross the column. Followed by an ECTN with no propagation across the column.

Aspect: SW. Elev: 10,800. Slope: 33. HS: 70cm. The two upper interfaces were down 15cm and 20cm. The most notable had a 1cm soft crust capping 1mm facets. Given the shallower snowpack compared to the other two locations, this snowpack was noticeably weaker and will handle less loading once a new slab develops.

Photos:

5796

Dec. 25, 2022

Old Avalanche in the Playground

Date of Observation: 12/24/2022
Name: Phill Ott

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: AMR

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: An old hard slab in the Playground. Likely ran during the extreme wind event.

Photos:

5794

Dec. 25, 2022

Bedsurface blues

Date of Observation: 12/25/2022
Name: Zach Guy, Sierra Bishop, and Jack Caprio

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mount Emmons to 11,300′. We targeted southerly facing terrain in Racoon Basin and northeasterly facing terrain in Climax/Happy Chutes area.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We skier-triggered a pair of avalanches in Climax Chutes that started as facet sluffs but propagated wider as soft slabs once they started moving, entraining the entire snowpack (about 30 cm) to the ground, D1 and D2 in size. This path ran naturally around 12/6, so the old persistent slab structure was gone. We were surprised to see how wide the slabs propagated given that there was only 3″ or 4″ of soft, wind drifted snow above the faceted bed surface.
Weather: Partly cloudy skies, light winds, no precip.
Snowpack: In short, the snowpack is weak and ripe for another cycle with the forecasted storm. The snowpack is exceptionally weak on bedsurfaces of slopes that ran in early December: 2mm chained facets. We already got evidence of how touchy this layer will be from the slabs that propagated fairly wide today under only a few inches of soft, wind blown snow (4F). On southerly aspects, we got propagating results on the crust facet layer (12/20 layer) buried by a few inches of soft, windblown snow. We got a couple of collapses and shooting cracks near valley bottom on southerly aspects where recent wind drifting formed thin, hard slabs over these layers. On northerly slopes below treeline that haven’t already avalanched, slabs have faceted out and are unreactive in tests (ECTN M). Depth hoar is 4-5mm in size below a fist to 4F hard faceted midpack (1mm).

Photos:

5793

Dec. 25, 2022

Human-triggered avalanche. NE, NTL

Date of Observation: 12/25/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: NW Mountains, various aspects, BTL/NTL

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: While jumping around on a ridge, I triggered an estimated D2 avalanche off the NE side of the ridge. This avalanche released in early December facets and above the November facets. This appeared to be an old/hard wind whale at the top of the slope that would have been formed earlier this month during more southwesterly wind events. The entire snowpack in the crown was in various forms of the faceting process, except for the most recent 4″ on top. Despite the faceted snowpack, it was still 1F to 1F+ hard through most of the crown. Just slightly downhill of the crown, the snowpack was mostly weak and shallow, with just a little 1F left in the mid-pack. This was represented in the avalanche flank, and in recent travels on similar terrain. I suspect this old wind whale released and then flushed to the ground through the weak snowpack below.

Snowpack: Over the last few days traveling mostly in wind sheltered below treeline areas, there hasn’t been anything notable to report.

Photos:

5792

Dec. 24, 2022

One inch. Better than no inches. Or is it?

Date of Observation: 12/24/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek and Upper Brush Creek near Pearl Pass, up to 12700′ on various aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of previous hard slab avalanches from the arctic blast, D1 to D2, on heavily drifted slopes, generally E to S NTL.
Weather: Calm to light ridgetop winds. Mostly cloudy with periods of light snow. 1″ to 2″ of new snow since yesterday.
Snowpack: The Cement Creek valley floor was not as heavily wind impacted as what I’ve seen in the East River and Slate River corridors. The snow surface remains soft and weak below treeline, ~1mm facets. Once we climbed to near and above treeline, the snowpack got blasted. Snow surfaces are heavily wind affected, ranging from sastrugi to wind board to hard slab. The inch or two of fluffy new snow with no wind affect is a notable potential weak layer to monitor, especially if it facets over the next few days. It’s very low density resting on top of firm, wind hardened surfaces and there was minimal wind drifting it around, so it’s widespread at the moment.
No signs of instability today, though we weren’t messing around on the most suspect, windloaded slopes.

Photos:

5790

Dec. 24, 2022

Explosive triggered slabs at Irwin

Date of Observation: 12/23/2022
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure, East Barkmarker to Sunny Shoulder zone.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Triggered two additional D2s w/ HE. Same character as yesterday, running on 6-8″ of FCs.
Hollywood & Vine HS-AE-R2-D2-O FC (35cm x 20m x 100m)
Land of the Lost HS-AE-R2-D2-O FC (35cm x 15m x 75m)

Photos:

5789

Dec. 24, 2022

Dang it, Earl!

Date of Observation: 12/23/2022
Name: Harry Von Longshank

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Toured from 9200′ to around 11,400′ in the SW end of the SE forecast zone. Traveled on mainly easterly aspects all day.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Well, as this particular area is relatively shallow, most of the observed avalanches occurred on leeward features on E/SE aspects which were loaded during the recent wind event (surprise, surprise). A couple crowns were still fairly sharp and easily visible from a distance, which leads me to believe most of them ran towards the end of the wind-loading. Most appeared to have only been the wind slabs failing somewhere mid-snowpack but I did observe one on a very sparce and rocky N aspect ATL which failed to ground and seemed to have carried virtually all the available snow about 800′ down into the basin.
Weather: Pleasant. Light winds at best and mostly sunny. Temps probably somewhere in the high teens and low 20s.
Snowpack: 40cm down low, ramping up to around 100cm at higher elevations in protected areas. Wind stiffened and slightly textured in the open. Ski pen was roughly boot top all the way up. It was talkative in open meadows and clearings in the trees. I was able to get some surprisingly loud rumbling collapses traveling through most low angle, open terrain.

Photos:

5788

Dec. 23, 2022

Whetstone wind event natural avalanches

Date of Observation: 12/23/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: HWY 135 avalanche obs on Whetstone

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Three natural avalanches from the wind event above treeline.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5787

Dec. 23, 2022

A few more recent wind slabs from near town.

Date of Observation: 12/23/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Roadside obs near CB.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D1 to D1.5 wind slabs in Racoon Basin and on small slopes near town from the wind event. See photos.

Photos:

5786

Dec. 23, 2022

The wind hath no mercy

Date of Observation: 12/23/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Baxter Basin and Cascade Mtn, traveled on north, east, and south aspects to 11,700′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing new today. A handful of small wind slabs at all elevations and one potentially larger avalanche off of the Shield on Emmons appear to have run during the arctic blast.
Weather: Few clouds, light winds, mild temps.
Snowpack: As is often the case with these extreme wind events, the terrain got ravaged and there appears to be far more wind erosion than loading from Wednesday night’s event. Lots of sastrugi and raised tracks on all aspects. Winds eroded down to the early December graupel layer in areas, which was buried about 50 cm deep a few days ago. Of course, there are some terrain features that caught the drifting snow and formed hard slabs, most commonly abrupt concavities or rollovers. Ski cuts and snowmobile cuts on numerous of these suspect features produced minimal signs of instability; one slope cracked. Probably the best news from all the devastation is that the near-surface facet layer that was quite weak and soft on the surface a few days ago has been destroyed in many areas because of the wind event. I found it still preserved in very sheltered trees below about 5″ of recent snow, and below sun crusts on southerlies where the winds hadn’t stripped the crusts away.

Photos:

5785

Dec. 23, 2022

Natural avalanches on Gothic and Avery

Date of Observation: 12/22/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: visible natural avalanches from town of Mount CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural avalanche on East Bowl of Gothic and two on southeast aspects of Avery Peak.
Weather:
Snowpack:

5784

Dec. 22, 2022

Remotely-triggered avalanches near Irwin

Date of Observation: 12/22/2022
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Cat Ski Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Two remotely-triggered avalanches ran sympathetically in near treeline southeast terrain.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5783

Dec. 22, 2022

Natural avalanche Mount Emmons

Date of Observation: 12/22/2022
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: natural avalanche observation from Town of Crested Butte.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural R2D2 avalanche near treeline on Mount Emmons.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5782

Dec. 22, 2022

Stiff, sensitive slabs below treeline

Date of Observation: 12/22/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: North through east slopes below Snodgrass Trailhead down to the East River.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed one natural avalanche from overnight on a well-drifted northeast slope below treeline and remotely-triggered two slabs on northeast slopes below treeline. All three were D1.5 and broke at the old, faceted snow surface prior to wind event.
Weather: Decreasing cloud cover throughout the day and reduction in wind speeds by late morning. New snow accumulation roughly 4 inches, but hard to say given the impressive wind event.
Snowpack: We went hunting for fresh slab formation below treeline on shaded aspects. Each time we found a fresh, hard wind deposit the slab collapsed and cracked. On two steep features, avalanches released in the upper snowpack around 1 foot deep on average, but some portions of crowns exceeded 2 feet. The distribution of fresh surface slabs seems fairly isolated below treeline, but touchy to the weight of the person when encountered. Faceted grains in the weak layer were around 1mm in size. Many nearby slopes with similar aspects were scoured without recent wind loading. A smooth, lens shape and hard surface made it fairly easy to identify sensitive wind drifts.

Photos:

5781

Dec. 22, 2022

Weekly Snowpack Summary 12.16-12.22

The weekly summary is here. A prolonged dry spell dropped the Danger Rating to Moderate, until an ARCTIC BLAST on Wednesday evening raised the danger to Considerable after extreme winds pummeled the valley.

Weekly Summary December 16-22-compressed
Dec. 22, 2022

Wind slab near Gothic

Date of Observation: 12/22/2022
Name: Travis Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Wind slab on a drifted rollover near Gothic. See photo.

Photos:

5780

Dec. 22, 2022

Gothic Weather ob

Date of Observation: 12/22/2022
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: The worst type of weather- cloudy, only very light snow (1″ new 0.12″ water) and damaging strong wind, gusts at my station up to 50 mph but the station was set for snow and is protected from straight on wind. There has been a bit of clearing after sunrise and a bit of a decrease in wind though the temperature has slowly been dropping. Currently still 15-20 west wind gusting to 30 (probably 50 or more in open areas). Wind transport of snow is the biggest slide hazard. billy
Snowpack:

5777

Dec. 21, 2022

Baldy/Elkton storm obs and basal weak layer look

Date of Observation: 12/21/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch Road to Elkton Knob and the southerly side of Baldy.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: none observed
Weather: Around 3 inches of new snow by 3pm. Continuous light snowfall during the day amounted in very little accumulation. Most new snow fell overnight. Moderate WSW winds at ridge top, some gusts were strong.
Snowpack: While traveling through several drifted near treeline features, we produced cracking up to 15 feet in the storm snow. Cracks were in lower-density storm snow as most leeward features near treeline had stiff old snow surfaces from previous winds. Wind drifts up to 10 inches were observed immediately below cornices/terrain breaks but quickly diminished to just a few inches on a feature scale. I suspect you could have triggered small avalanches in the storm snow at upper elevations but the size would have generally been harmless to a person.
In sheltered areas facing the north half of the compass, the old snow surface was comprised of small grain facets, generally less than 1 mm, and looked weak enough to not tolerate significant loading before small avalanche activity begins.
I dug a single profile in a leeward northeast-facing feature at 11,300 feet to look at the basal facets. I chose to dig here as it would demonstrate a best-case scenario for improvement in basal facets as the depth was around 150cm with 125cm of slab resting above. The basal facets were 4-finger hard (softer end of 4-finger harness) and showed clear signs of rounding, but remain far softer than the hard, drifted slab above. It still appears possible to trigger an avalanche in basal weak layers where snow depths are variable leaving thinner slabs above the weak layer.

Photos:

5775

Dec. 21, 2022

Solstice ski

Date of Observation: 12/21/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Schuylkill Ridge

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a handful of shallow, long running sluffs in the top 30 cm of soft, faceted snow.
Weather: Light snowfall all day. Light winds with moderate gusts this afternoon created periods of moderate blowing snow.
Snowpack: 2” new. Minimal signs of instability while breaking trail; one localized collapse near valley bottom. Most steep terrain that we rode on or near had avalanched earlier this month. Bed surfaces are weak and primed for repeat offenders. Surfaces are generally fist hard 1-1.5mm facets on northerlies and soft crust facet sandwiches on southerlies. No wind slab development yet where we were, but I could see plumes off of suspect terrain this afternoon

Photos:

5774

Dec. 20, 2022

Snodgrass AIARE Rec 1 Course

Date of Observation: 12/20/2022
Name: Billy Rankin

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Up normal Snodgrass skin track with several deviations breaking our own trail, down E & NE aspects below 30 degrees

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: No new avalanches observed
Weather: Clear turning OVC, Highs in the 20’s light variable winds below treelike w/ a few flakes falling around 1500.
Snowpack: HS: 40-80cm’s throughout the lower Snodgrass area. The persistent slab structure still remains though the slab is eroding and getting thinner. We got a few small localized collapses below tree line while off the existing skiing track. We dug a quick profile on a NE aspect below TL on a 25 degree slope. HS: 65 small surface facets / surface hoar on the surface with 10-15cms of weak df’s on top of a 15-20cm 4F – 1F slab / mid pack resting on 20-30cm’s of basal facets 1-2mm.
Compression tests: CTE SP on the 11/28 interface. ECTN. PST SF

5772

Dec. 20, 2022

Skooks Going Sandy Again

Date of Observation: 12/20/2022
Name: Evan Ross Dan Hohl

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Schuylkill Ridge. 9,000-11,500. NE.

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Clear sky becoming overcast. Calm wind. A couple of snowflakes fall in the afternoon. Sure hope they figure out how to multiply…

Snowpack: In this specific terrain that we traveled the persistent slab problem was somewhere in the Stubborn and specific, or stubborn and isolated, category. Common terrain with the same specific features didn’t all hold the problem, so maybe more stubborn and isolated.

The majority of avalanche terrain had previously avalanched earlier in December, refilled with some amount of snow, but was lacking much of any slab. Or in other areas that didn’t previously avalanche, the old slab is being eaten by the faceting process as we often see this time of year under these weather conditions.

PSa structure is becoming isolated in the terrain we traveled while the facet sluff problem is growing. The snow surface consisted of small SH and a thickening layer of NSF.

The skiing conditions were great and tracks had begun stepping out into more aggressive terrain features.

Photos:

5771

Dec. 18, 2022

Cinnamon

Date of Observation: 12/18/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate to Paradise Divide and Cinnamon Mtn, traveling mostly on southerly aspects and ridgelines.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing new in this area since my visit to Baldy two days ago, except for the Augusta slide reported by Kinler. New vantage of more crowns from last week’s winds and older.
Weather: Partly cloudy, light to moderate southwest winds, no snow transport.
Snowpack: Snow surfaces are faceted and weak below treeline, with thin sun crusts in the upper few inches on sunbaked slopes. Where recent drifting overlaps with these layers, I easily triggered shooting cracks and collapses up to 6″ deep. These were harmless in size and fairly isolated, but a good indicator of how the current surface will be a problem with future loading. Above treeline, the snow surface is heavily worked by winds, ranging from hard sastrugi to hard wind board to hard wind slab that produce no signs of instability. I did not experience any collapses or signs of instability on basal weak layers either.

Photos:

5767

Dec. 18, 2022

Kebler Pass

Date of Observation: 12/18/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Various Aspects, primarily between 10,800ft and 11,800ft.

Observed avalanche activity: No

Snowpack: Informal observation, just traveling through the terrain.

Gladed westerly facing slopes around 30 degrees produced several shooting cracks. Skis were punching through the slab on hard turns.

ESE-facing slopes gave no obvious signs of instability with snowmobiles jumping and bouncing around on low 30-degree terrain next to steeper slopes. Felt really easy to get sucked into more aggressive terrain given the lack of obvious signs of instability.

5766

Dec. 18, 2022

Fresh natural near Augusta

Date of Observation: 12/18/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Saddle between Augusta and Purple.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Fresh persistent slab off Augusta/Purple saddle. See photo.

Photos:

5763

Dec. 17, 2022

Yule Creek very large avalanche

Date of Observation: 12/17/2022
Name: Scott Toepfer

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Yule Creek

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: N’ly aspect off the ‘Nipple’ south of Ant up Yule Creek. Big. Estimate crown was 15-20 feet, whole face below the summit cliff band pulled out to ground, wall to wall. We did not notice it yesterday, (and we were looking up that way a lot) or this morning, but we may not have noticed this morning while we trying to stay warm. I’m going to classify it as HSNR4D3G Not sure starting elevation or other dimensions but the crown was visible from a long ways away. I’d bet money it hit valley floor. Sorry, no fotos.

5762

Dec. 17, 2022

Observed D1 Avalanche

Date of Observation: 12/17/2022
Name: Jack Fanselow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Nordic skiing on Mike’s Mile trail

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A small, D1 avalanche slide in the 2nd Climax Chute.
Weather: Sunny, no wind, 10 degrees F.
Snowpack: Unstable snowpack, with a persistent slab problem on all West to East aspects at all elevations and a wind slap problem on most higher elevation SW to NE aspects.

5761

Dec. 17, 2022

Recent action from West Brush

Date of Observation: 12/17/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiled out West Brush and skied on the southwest side of Teocalli up to 12,200′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of recent slab avalanches up to D2 in size on the eastern half of the compass. There’s been so much wind in this area that crowns are a bit harder to decipher (wind slab vs. persistent slab) and put an age on it. I’m only documenting the slides that look to have fairly recent debris; there were a few others that are either older or just blown in now.
Weather: Cold temps this morning, pleasant this afternoon in the sun. Calm winds.
Snowpack: We noted two collapses while snowmobiling in the flats at valley bottom, radiating about 30 to 50 feet. Slabs there are about 18″, soft and faceting. On southwest terrain, there were no persistent slab concerns: now from the past few weeks is shallow and faceting now (1-2mm), capped by various thin melt freeze or wind crusts in some areas, without any underlying old snow. There were a few cross-loaded gullies where we managed for recent shallow drifts (both hard and soft), but they were unreactive to our ski cuts in steep terrain. Winds did a number on the alpine in this area; some of the problematic terrain is heavily eroded now, other terrain saw loading. Surfaces N/ATL are all worked by the wind.

Photos:

5760

Dec. 16, 2022

A few more from Northwest Mountains

Date of Observation: 12/16/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracite Range, Schuylkill Ridge, Axtell. Submitted via text or morning bino tours.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: See photos and details below. Failures sometime in the past few days.

Photos:

5759

Dec. 16, 2022

Weekly Snowpack Summary 12.9-12.16

The weekly snowpack summary is here. While some areas in the Northwest Mountains received more than a few inches of new snow, the main story this week was clear skies, cold temps, and consistent wind transport and pressing. Accompanying this wind loading were some impressive natural avalanches and a lingering wind slab problem as we move into the weekend.

Weekly Summary December 9-16-compressed

 

Dec. 16, 2022

Destructive naturals in the Ruby Range. Part 2

Date of Observation: 12/16/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. Baldy

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Adding more avalanches to the previous observation. Ruby, Afley, Peeler Peak, Treasury, and Gothic. The Gothic slide may have run today, the others ran sometime in the past 4 days.

Photos:

5758

Dec. 16, 2022

More destructive naturals from the past few days

Date of Observation: 12/16/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Baldy, traveling primarily on south and southeast aspects to 12,400′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of destructive persistent slabs ran in the past few days. Most notable includes a pair of very large hard slabs (D3) on Purple Ridge that ran over Purple Bench and reached the Slate River, ~2100 vertical, and several others in the ~D2-D3 range off or Ruby Peak, Peeler Peak, Schuylkill Peak, Bichmond, and Gothic. All fit the same distribution pattern as previous cycles. Today’s observed slides were all on W to N to E starting near or above treeline. Hard to say exactly which days they ran on, some crowns looked very fresh (24-36 hours), others were more drifted in and probably ran during the peak of the last storm (~12/13)
Weather: Cold, clear, light northerly winds this afternoon on Baldy. I could see notable transport in the Southeast Mountains this morning, especially near Whiterock.
Snowpack: Apart from one collapse in a relatively thin area (from wind erosion), we saw no signs of instability under foot. Test results on a windloaded SE facing slope near treeline produced propagating results (PST 47/137 END) under a 130 cm hard slab (up to pencil hard). The weak layer is showing substantial improvements compared to the start of the month; It was 4F+ and rounding. Still an ugly structure and now scary consequences, but on an improving trend.

Photos:

5757

Dec. 15, 2022

Mt Emmons, N-NE-E

Date of Observation: 12/15/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt Emmons. N to E. 9,000ft to 11,400ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lots of old avalanche activity in the terrain, but nothing new or notable that doesn’t fit the mold.

Weather: Mostly cloudy, calm wind, cold.

Snowpack: Climbing up through the terrain the snowpack transitioned from weak and shallow, to deep and stubborn. Somewhere in the middle, there was a narrow band where the persistent slab avalanche problem may have been reactive. Only a few collapse with notable effort. A couple of those shook trees but didn’t produce on the nearby steep slopes. Overall the snowpack structure remains poor and has just become less reactive or stubborn.

9,600ft. NE aspect, 35-degree slope. HS 60cm. ECTN. The mid-pack slab was 4F over the F November Facets. Facets are developing throughout this snowpack and the mid-pack slab was losing its ability to propagate a collapse. Near this pit, I found some recently formed wind drifts that added structure and made that specific snowpack reactive.

11,000ft. ENE aspect, 30-degree slope. HS 100cm. ECTX, CT21 SC on the November facets. Here the mid-pack slab was 1F .8mm rounded grains over the F 2.5mm faceted grains. Poor snowpack structure. No amount of jumping or punching ski boots to the weak layer was producing a collapse.

Somewhere between those two locations, it felt like there should be a sweet spot where the persistent slab avalanche problem would be more reactive. I couldn’t put my finger on where exactly that is.

11,200ft. NNE aspect. This slope had previously avalanched. Below the bed surface, there was about 10cm of well-developed facets. Above the bed surface, there was 25 to 30cm of new snow that was faceting and losing strength.

Photos:

5756

Dec. 15, 2022

RMBL Gothic Snow Study Plot 12.15.22

Date of Observation: 12/15/2022
Name: Benjamin Schmatz

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: RMBL Snow Study Plot in parking lot in front of Dining Hall

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Light Snow, overcast, and cold ~15deg

Snowpack: At this location we do not see any old snow problems. The first few storms of the season melted out and did not stick. The bottom layer here was created by the 11/28 storm cycle and has built up since then. Relatively stable considering the lack of faceted snow at the bottom. It was difficult to even discern a layer delineation in the snow pack, but we determined that grain size and hardness deserved a boundary designation. ECTX. no result from an extended column test.

Photos:

5755

Dec. 15, 2022

Another large destructive natural on the M face

Date of Observation: 12/15/2022
Name: Turner G

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Seen from 135

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: M face of whetstone. Natural early this am. Finally cleared up again to kind of get a photo.
Weather: Windy, cold, socked in.
Snowpack:

Photos:

5754

Dec. 15, 2022

Slabby at Coney’s

Date of Observation: 12/15/2022
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard ascent through the forest to the top of First Bowl. Descended skier’s right edge of the bowl. NE aspect; 9,600-10,800 feet.

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Brisk and overcast with light, intermittent snow and temps in the single digits to low teens. Light to moderate W & NW winds at the ridgetop.

Snowpack: Plenty of fresh windslabs have formed along the ridgetop and in the open terrain. The persistent slab seems to be getting stiffer and more stubborn to trigger. It seems like if triggered, there is a good probability of wide propagation and hard slabs. All of the old crowns have filled in with new wind-driven snow. Best turns were down low in the protected, gladed terrain.

Photos:

5753

Dec. 14, 2022

The Strong slab over the weak junk Stayed quiet.

Date of Observation: 12/14/2022
Name: Evan Ross Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River Valley. NE 9,000-10,800.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A recent large avalanche in the Climax Chutes that likely ran last night. At 10am the crown was blown back in while the avalanche debris looked fresh. This was a cross-loaded terrain feature below 10,800ft.

Weather: Cold. Generally, calm wind except for a few gusts down in the open valley. Mostly cloudy. A few flakes, but no real accumulation.

Snowpack: Obvious signs of instability were rare. A few collapses with notable effort and a couple of localized shooting cracks.

HS varied between about 90cm to 135cm on average. We targeted two test profiles on NE aspects, one with an HS of 90cm at 10,000ft and one with an HS of 125cm at 10,700ft. In both locations the snowpack structure was poor. Thick slabs to 1F or P, over F to F+ November Facets. The change in grain size at the interface was about 1.5mm. ECT results were ECTP22 in the lower location and ECTX at the upper location where it took several full-strength whacks after the standard test to get through the slab and produce a failure.

Photos:

5751

Dec. 14, 2022

Large natural on Whetstone

Date of Observation: 12/14/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One fresh-looking D2 persistent slab off of the north side of Barcelona Bowl, likely ran yesterday. Saw a couple of small ones near Meridian Lake that might be older, or maybe they just got a bit drifted in if they ran yesterday. Poor visibility of anything beyond the donut hole.
Snowpack: Evidence of shallow wind slab formation (up to 8″ thick, 4F) in cross drifted near treeline slopes.

Photos:

5749

Dec. 14, 2022

Gothic Weather obs

Date of Observation: 12/14/2022
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Little weather here with just a trace of snow each of the past 2 days but no warming as yesterday’s high ws 14F and today’s low 10 with a steady wind bringing more blowing snow. No sign of sun and snowpack down to 23½”.

5748

Dec. 14, 2022

Coneys confirmation of known problems

Date of Observation: 12/13/2022
Name: Troy Hendrick

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Coneys up to Anthracite Mesa ridge, setting far skiers left skinner instead of traditional semi-bushwacker skinner. We roped into the crown of the slide a few days earlier to get a close up as part of a course. Dug pits on due NE leeward slopes, kicked small cornices on the ridge and skied The Nose.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nose Stake D1.5 which ran 12/10 and is listed infra in a separate observation.
Weather: Light snow, cold, somewhat foggy later, overcast
Snowpack: Roped into a D1.5 avy crown just skier’s left of The Nose Stake. The pocket ripped on 12/10. We tried to kick off hangfire as we roped in with no results. Skied Coneys on The Nose. Very good skiing, if a little windboard bounce. Dug pit on the far skier’s left skinner. 105 cm snowpack, NE aspect, 30 degree pitch 10,700′. Trashpile of 2mm depth hoar facets from ground up to 25 cm. This is the obvious layer where the 12/10 D1.5 failed. 28-30 cm is a crust. 4f up to fist through rest of snowpack to surface. Temp gradient across 1m is -8 Celsius. This was sortof surprising given the super cold air temps. We would expect further faceting but this snowpack is managing to stay rather warm.

Photos:

5747

Dec. 13, 2022

Weekly Snowpack Summary 12.2-12.9

The 12.2-12.9 Weekly Snowpack Summary is here. Two storm cycles kickstarted widespread natural avalanching. The week ended with high pressure moving in and excellent riding on lower angled terrain.

CBAC Weekly Summary December 2-9 (1)-compressed

 

Dec. 13, 2022

Beckwith Pass and Kebler Corridor

Date of Observation: 12/13/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Pass road to Horse Ranch Park then up Cliff Creek route to Beckwith Pass.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: non observed, visibility obscured views of the east end of East Beckwith or any other steep terrain in the area.
Weather: Overcast skies, moderate winds blowing west to east down the Kebler Pass corridor, light snowfall from 11am to 3pm. Storm totals ranged from 9 to 12 inches from Kebler Pass to Beckwith Pass. Snowfall rates during the day were light enough to be offset by the settlement in the storm snow already on the ground.
Snowpack: Near Beckwith Pass, I measured 11.5″of storm snow with .75″ of snow water equivalent. I dug a couple of profiles below treeline and found a snowpack that ranged from 100 to 130cm. Snowpack tests showed moderate propagating potential on basal facets. Given that the slab at this location (see photo) was nearly pencil hard, I think the .75″ of water in the storm snow had made the Persistent Slab problem more sensitive to the weight of a person, but not nearly enough to produce natural activity outside of highly drifted leeward features at upper elevations. I didn’t experience any collapsing while snowmobiling or while stomping through the slab directly above suspect test slopes. Due to slab thickness, around 90cm, and with a hardness near Pencil at the bottom of the slab, I would not really anticipate signs of instability in sheltered terrain until I found a trigger point. I also did not find any buried surface hoar beneath the storm snow in several suspect locations. I was able to produce cracking up to 15 feet in fresh, shallow drifts on lee features below treeline.

Photos:

5746

Dec. 13, 2022

Red Lady Collapses

Date of Observation: 12/13/2022
Name: Cosmo Langsfeld

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Skin Track-Red Lady Glades

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Overcast, Light snow, light wind up high, calm down low.
Snowpack: Broke trail up Red Lady skin track. Quiet until near tree line. Small collapses on pillows behind tree fences near tree line. Isolated collapses and short shooting cracks on hardish windboard on windward terrain just below ridgetop above tree line. One larger collapse on low angle west-ish facing terrain in a meadow around aspens lower down on the descent.

5745

Dec. 13, 2022

West Brush Creek

Date of Observation: 12/12/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Brush Creek TH to West Brush Creek. Tour in the Union Chutes area.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of natural avalanches from last week were observed on east and northeast terrain near and below treeline.
Weather: Cloudy skies produced light snowfall from 1230 to 2pm with sporadic snow through 330. Accumulations less than an inch. Southwesterly winds drifted snow at ridgetop with light loading onto easterly alpine start zones.
Snowpack: The snowpack remains fairly shallow, less than 2 feet, below 9,500 feet near the confluence of Brush and West Brush Creeks. Snow depth increased as I traveled the few miles up West Brush Creek. Snow depth near the valley bottom by Teocalli, around 10,000 feet, on east and northeast terrain was about 90cm and slowly increased to around 105cm around 11,200 feet. Close to valley bottom, I produced some moderate size collapsing. Near 11,000 feet and above I struggled to get a collapse even with booting into the weak layer but finally got one loud, rumbling collapse after numerous attempts. Snow pit tests produced moderate propagating test results on the basal facets (see photo).  Fewer signs of instability than I expected, but the same poor structure above the untrustworthy basal facets.

Photos:

5743

Dec. 11, 2022

Getting more stubborn

Date of Observation: 12/11/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Pittsburg Rollers area, up to 10,500 ft on north to northeast aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing new today. Filling in some previously undocumented persistent slabs from the 12/6-12/8 cycle. See photos.
Weather: Unseasonably warm and sunny
Snowpack: Widespread 1mm to 3mm surface hoar below about 10,000 feet on shady aspects, with minor near surface faceting elsewhere on the snow surface.
After venturing away from the regularly traveled areas, we tried getting collapses by skinning, stomping skis, and then punching boots through the slab a few times. Only one of the boot pen attempts produced a rumbling collapse. Tests produced hard, propagating results on a F+ layer of rounding facets buried below an 80 cm slab up to 1F hard. The failure occurred just below the thin rime/rain crust that formed back in November. See pit.

Photos:

5741

Dec. 11, 2022

Wolverine Basin

Date of Observation: 12/11/2022
Name: Ian Havlick

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Up from Gunsight bridge to upper Wolverine Basin.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Pretty much a war zone starting from
Climax chutes all the way to top with lots of little steep convex features having failed since the snow stopped 3 days ago. Lots of road cuts and larger features- anything over 35 degrees highly suspect
Weather: Clear, calm, cold
Snowpack: Snowpack structure similar to other observations submitted, F>1F slab resting on 20cm of large grained depth hoar. Most notable observation was widely distributed 4-6mm surface hoar on aspects traveled (N-NE-E) from 9000-11000ft. Will be worth watching with incoming snow tonight.

Photos:

5740

Dec. 11, 2022

Baxter Basin

Date of Observation: 12/11/2022
Name: Alex B

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Standard uptrack on the east side of the creek into baxter basin and up to the south side of cascade.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: No cracking, collapsing or new avalanches observed. Isolated natural cycle in alpine terrain features in the last 48-72hrs.
Weather: Clear. Calm valley winds gusting to moderate from the SW at ridgetop. Mild temps with strong solar input.
Snowpack: Targeted one shallow slope and one deeper terrain feature. HS ranged from 90-170cm.
NW 10200′ moderate results from multiple handshears failing on 2-3mm well-preserved graupple down 45cm.
NW 10400′ CT22 RP down 65cm failing on the 2-3mm graupple.
The slab above this interface progressively stiffens to a 1f slab above and to a pencil hard slab below. The bottom 15cm of the snowpack are large grained facets.

5739

Dec. 11, 2022

Tree rumbling Collapses

Date of Observation: 12/11/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Up Anthracite Mesa via Washington Gulch TH

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: No new avalanches observed
Weather: Sunny and pleasant, calm winds.
Snowpack: This is a zone that has seen no traffic so the slab/weak layer was unmolested. I got rumbling collapses in every open area and some areas within the trees. Most often these collapses shook the snow off of trees in the surrounding area. A pit at 10,800′ on an East aspect produced and ECTP13 on 2-3 mm facets near the ground under a 45cm slab up to 1F. Stomped above a couple of steeper slopes with no results however these appear to have avalanched in early December with around 10 inches of low-density snow in the bed surface.

 

[/gravityforms]
5738

Dec. 11, 2022

Avalanche

Date of Observation: 12/11/2022

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red lady bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D2-3 R2-3 remote triggered SE side of bowl from the SW side of bowl. Was not carried buried or injured. Really close call.

Photos:

5736

Dec. 11, 2022

Remotely triggered persistent slab in Red Lady Bowl

Date of Observation: 12/11/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A solo skier on the looker’s right side of the bowl remotely triggered the looker’s left side of the bowl after descending into the benches near the bottom of the main bowl. The skier reported that there were no involvements.

Photos:

5735

Dec. 10, 2022

Another slope bites the dust

Date of Observation: 12/10/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiled out to Upper Cement and skied near Hunter Hill and Timbered Hill up to 12,300′ traveling on various aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The southeast face of Castle Peak has a fresh crown that appears to be triggered today by a very small dribbler from a cornice. We did not see the slide on yesterday’s flight and flew right by it. Documenting a few other persistent slabs that ran sometime in the past few days that we missed because of the flight route, flat light, or maybe one ran after our flight.
Weather: Rapid warming, from near zero temps this morning to near-freezing temps mid-day. Light ridgetop winds and mostly clear skies.
Snowpack: Below treeline continues to produce fairly frequent collapses. Once we gained elevation to near treeline, the slabs get noticeably thicker and harder, and collapses became less common. We would occasionally trigger one from near a tree or on the margin of a drift. Test results on a NTL east-facing slope produced hard, propagating results on 2-3mm F+ facets below a 75 cm slab up to 1F. HS ranges from 60 cm near the bottom of Waterfall Trail (9,800′), to 90 cm just below Friends Hut (11,000′). Snow surfaces got moist or wet today on sunny aspects to at least 11,800′ and produced a few rollerballs.

Photos:

5733

Dec. 10, 2022

Purple Palace area natural via text message

Date of Observation: 12/10/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Low elevations Purple Ridge avalanche ob

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural avalanches on east and northeast slopes immediately above the first switchback at the head of Slate River valley. There appears to be very little snow refilled on the bed surface suggesting it ran sometime later in the day on Thursday or after.  Image texted to CBAC staff.

Photos:

5732

Dec. 10, 2022

Remote trigger (?) at Coneys

Date of Observation: 12/10/2022

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Coneys

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Fresh slide appears to be remotely triggered. This same slope also ran on 11/29

Photos:

5731

Dec. 10, 2022

Splains Gulch-BTL/East Aspect

Date of Observation: 12/10/2022
Name: Andrew Breibart

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Pass TH-Splain Gulch
BTL/East aspect-see photo

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: NA
Weather: clear and calm. cold temperatures along Kebler pass road in the AM and PM.
Warm in the sun on Kebler Pass road and parking area.
Snowpack: No cracking or collapsing on fresh skin track within trees and in open terrain.
Pit height 95 cm.
Two tests:
CT 28/Q2 on facets at 23 cm (see photo).
ECTX
ski and boot pen: 15-20 cm

Photos:

5730

Dec. 10, 2022

Big, fresh one off of Mineral Point

Date of Observation: 12/10/2022
Name: Evan Ross and the Zachs

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: East face of Mineral Point

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: It looks like East Face of Mineral ran very large last night or yesterday afternoon. We did not see it yesterday morning.

Photos:

5729

Dec. 10, 2022

Teo Ridge/West Brush Avalanche Obs

Date of Observation: 12/10/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Middle Brush Creek and West Brush Creek

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5728

Dec. 10, 2022

Hunter Hill/Timbered Hill/Carbonate Avalanche Obs

Date of Observation: 12/10/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: East Brush Creek

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5727

Dec. 10, 2022

Brush Creek Headwaters Avalanche Obs

Date of Observation: 12/10/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Pearl Pass to Star Peak and down East Brush Cr

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5726

Dec. 09, 2022

Gothic/Copper Creek/ West Brush Avalanche Obs

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic to Copper Creek to West Brush Cr

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5724

Dec. 09, 2022

Baldy Avalanches

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Baldy

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread large avalanche cycle on various aspects of Mt Baldy including one of the few D3s observed in the recent cycle
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5723

Dec. 09, 2022

Treasury/Upper East Avalanche Obs

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Cinnamon to Treasury/Crystal to Belleview and down to Gothic

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread large natural avalanche cycle in the Alpine
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5722

Dec. 09, 2022

Natural cycle recap

Dec. 09, 2022

Yule Pass Area naturals

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Augusta to Purple to Yule Pass.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Large recent natural avalanches on west side of Augusta, northeast side of Blob and Purple, and east sides of Purple and Angel Pass. Most of these looked like persistent slabs that ran in the last few days, a couple may have been storm slabs.

Photos:

5721

Dec. 09, 2022

Ruby Range Naturals

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ruby Range from Lake Irwin to OBJ Basin

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural persistent slab avalanches from D1.5 to D2.5 on NW to NE to SE aspects N/ATL. See photos.

Photos:

5720

Dec. 09, 2022

Ruby ran today

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Irwin

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Southeast bowl of Ruby Peak ran this afternoon around 2:30. ~D2.5

Photos:

5719

Dec. 09, 2022

More Anthracites and Beckwith avalanches

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracites and East Beckwith.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous large persistent slabs that ran sometime in the past few days on NW to E aspects ATL, in addition to the slides Eric documented yesterday.

Photos:

5718

Dec. 09, 2022

Aspen zone avalanches

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler

Zone: Outside of forecast area: Aspen Zone
Route Description: Aspen zone just north of Schofield Pass, in the Fravert and Hasley Basin areas. This is north of our outside of our forecast area, but the crowns are worth checking out…

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous large persistent slab avalanches, mostly on E to NE aspects ATL. Many of these appeared very fresh, likely ran yesterday.

Photos:

5716

Dec. 09, 2022

West Elk Wilderness avalanches

Date of Observation: 12/09/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler

Zone: Outside of forecast area
Route Description: West Elk Wilderness from Baldies to Castles. This area is outside of our forecast area, to the southwest, but the crowns are worth checking out…

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several large persistent slab avalanches from NE to SE aspects ATL that ran in the past few days.

Photos:

5715

Dec. 09, 2022

Small skier-triggered slide in storm snow via text message

Date of Observation: 12/08/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Southeast slope of Schuylkill Ridge

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: From the text message – “Popped a shallow storm slab first pitch then great pow!”.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5714

Dec. 08, 2022

More naturals from Whetstone and Treasury

Date of Observation: 12/08/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Pavement obs from the road.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more avalanches from Whetstone and one deep avalanche from Treasury. Hard to time avalanche release but a few crowns looked sharp while others were likely from around Tuesday 12/6. The crown on Treasure looks very deep and the view was poor so I did not code it until a better image comes around.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5713

Dec. 08, 2022

Western NW Mtns avalanche obs

Date of Observation: 12/08/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiled Kebler Pass to West Beckwith.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lots of large natural avalanches were observed near/above treeline on the north half of the compass in the Anthracite Range, East Beckwith, and West Beckwith. Some avalanches appeared very fresh, within the past 24 hours, while others appeared to be closer to 48 hours from the tail end of Tuesday’s storm. Visibility was marginal; I observed many debris piles with obscured start zones, or binoculared a crown but was unable to photograph before losing visibility. I coded avalanches in the attached photos.

Did not observe any avalanches below treeline.

I got a few glimpses into southerly terrain north of Dark Canyon, and southeasterly terrain on Marcellina and did not observe any obvious large avalanches.
Weather: Snowfall tapering off by 10 am. Partly to mostly cloudy skies. Westerly winds were transporting moderate amounts of snow at upper elevations. 24-hour snowfall totals ranged from 2 to 5 inches along the Kebler Pass roadway.
Snowpack: I took a moment to dig a profile on a northerly slope at 9,000 feet near Horse Ranch Park. Snow depth was 80cm. The bottom 15cm was 2-3mm depth hoar, with around 30cm of 1-finger and 4-finger hardness slab above, and about 35cm of lower-density recent snow at the surface. I was able to walk around in boots and not punch through the slab. I believe I collapsed the site as I approached on my snowmobile. The snowpack in the western parts (west of Kebler Pass) of the Northwest Mountains seems to match well with the rest of the zone in the Ruby Range based on the profile and snow coverage in alpine terrain.

Photos:

5712

Dec. 08, 2022

Fresh brown stains on Axtell

Date of Observation: 12/08/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Flat light views of Mt. Axtell at sunset.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Fresh slab avalanche to the ground in 6th Bowl (NE to maybe E facing). Two brown stains on 5th bowl and Wang Chung face that I didn’t see yesterday, but I couldn’t confirm crowns or debris in the flat light, so I’ll code later if we get a better look.

Photos:

5711

Dec. 08, 2022

SE mtns naturals

Date of Observation: 12/08/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Clear visibility sunset obs from Mt. CB, looking out towards south to west facing terrain of Copper Creek, Teo, Pearl Pass, and north facing terrain of Whetstone.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Similar to our cycles earlier in December, the southwest quadrant stayed pretty quiet out there. A lot of those slopes were bare dirt. I spotted 6 persistent slabs, D1-D2, that released sometime in the past few days out of concave gullies on west facing terrain A/NTL, low on slopes below wind erosion. Gothic’s east face produced a fresh D2 to the ground today. There was a wide propagating crown across Hidden Lake Bowl on Whetstone that looks older (Tuesday storm), and a few of smaller ones that looked crisp enough to be from today. And a cute ‘lil pocket on the southeast side of Avery that looks like it was triggered by a cornice fall today.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5710

Dec. 08, 2022

Sunny side up. Sunny side down.

Date of Observation: 12/08/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Morning rec tour in Kebler Pass corridor, traveled on south, southwest, and northeast aspects below treeline, up to 10,400′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Poor visibility of suspect terrain.
Weather: Steady west wind, generally moderate speeds on exposed ridgelines with light to moderate blowing snow. Light snowfall, with about 4″ of new overnight.
Snowpack: Traveled primarily on slopes that were bare during our November dryspell for a low-stress day. Winds were forming fresh drifts up to 18″ thick on cross drifted features that were easy to recognize and avoid. Yesterday’s sunshine formed a soft crust under last night’s new snow, but the riding quality was still fun. As soon as we wandered into the land of the forbidden fruit (NE aspect), we got frequent rumbling collapses, sometimes multiple collapses on the same slope. Test pits produced easy propagating results on the 11/28 facet layer (F, 2-3mm) under a 70 cm slab (F down to 1F). The slope collapsed both before digging the pit, and again after we were leaving.

Photos:

5709

Dec. 08, 2022

southern crust

Date of Observation: 12/08/2022
Name: Rob Strickland

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Glady.
Noticeable crust under last night’s snow. The higher we got the more the crust was evident. We could see icicles hanging from the pines about 10,000′ so it must have gotten pretty warm up there.
Skied quite nice regardless

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: I kicked the fresh cornices over the east ridge and it looked soft and had no signs of instability.

Lower on the southerlies I was able to kick off a small wind slab on a road cut.
Weather: windy, snowy, dark. When the doughnut whole comes back it will be much better ;) but it was kinda burly for 21* (haha)
Snowpack: 2″ – 4″ more

5708

Dec. 08, 2022

Gothic Weather obs

Date of Observation: 12/08/2022
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Light snow Thursday morning and then stopping midday until around midnight with light snow until around 4 a.m., then becoming heavier for 2 hours. That stopped around 6 as the wind became nasty. There was a brief period of a bit of sun yesterday but cloudy overwise as it still is now with moderately strong wind moving snow. There was 5″ new with water 0.30″ and now 30½” of snow on the ground. It reached 35F with today’s low 15 and current 16. Snow seems to have started up again but with the wind it is hard to tell but if so, very light (the snow, not the wind). billy

5707

Dec. 07, 2022

Natural avalanche on Mount Owen via text message

Date of Observation: 12/07/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Avi ob from Irwin area.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural avalanche on Mount Owen. East to southeast aspect above the treeline.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5705

Dec. 07, 2022

Relentless rumbling collapses, naturals, and remote triggers!

Date of Observation: 12/07/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass skin track to the summit, a brief look at northside, and tour around northwest and southwest start zones.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I observed a natural avalanche in California Bowl with debris visible from the parking lot, and a few other naturals on the north side and remotely triggered an ENE slope from a few hundred feet away. Several naturals ran yesterday (a few inches of refilled snow) and another ran recently without snow on the bed surface. I expected to find more natural avalanches…this leaves many suspect slopes on the north side of Snodgrass just waiting to be triggered by a person.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies, light winds, and light snowfall starting just after 2pm.
Snowpack: Snowpack is around 85cm (just shy of three feet) on the north half of the compass. Anytime I left the skin track I easily produced loud collapses; like relentlessly for several hours as I moved through untraveled terrain. The recent snowfall and mild temperatures have allowed the slab to gain strength, but NOT the weak layer. The 1-finger hardness in the slab is producing long-running collapses and remotely triggered avalanches. As I contoured around Snodgrass to the northwest signs of instability and long-running collapses continued.  Southwesterly start zones did not produce any signs of instability and appeared to have a “right side up” snowpack with a graupel layer in the middle. Low elevations southeast, south, and southwest slopes developed a soft crust today from mild temps and periods of sun.

Low-angled terrain is skiing awesome right now…supportive and fast turns!

Photos:

5704

Dec. 07, 2022

Washington Gulch Naturals

Date of Observation: 12/07/2022
Name: Zach Guy Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lower Washington Gulch: A few small natural persistent slabs that likely ran last night on the small, steep slopes near Meridian Lake.

Gothic Mountain W-NW: This area has seen a few avalanches recently. A couple of D2 on NW and a couple of D1’s on W. Probably ran last night or yesterday during a loading event. Not really any snow or wind today so I wouldn’t expect they ran this morning.

Elkton Knob W-NW: Several small to large slabs that ran on NW to W aspects. They all had snow on the bed surfaces and likely ran last night or yesterday.

Mt Emmons: NW aspect in Wolverine Basin. Couldn’t see debris or accurately judge size from such a distance. At least large in size.

Mt Baldy South Bowl: Looker left side of the south bowl had a large avalanche. SE aspect. The avalanche debris looked soft with fresh snow on them. D2.5

Mt Baldy South Bowl. SW aspect with a notable crown but the avalanche was small in size. D1.5

Photos:

5703

Dec. 07, 2022

A few big ones from the alpine

Date of Observation: 12/07/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Rec skiing some small hills near Snodgrass, easterly facing terrain, with decent views of Gothic, Copper Creek, Emmons, and Axtell.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several recent avalanches, most likely ran during the storm yesterday or last night: A couple large to very large avalanches off of Axtell and Gothic, ~D2.5 best guess. Several D2s off of Climax Chutes. A number of shallow storm instabilities on Gothic, both slabs and loose dry, up to D1.5.
We remotely triggered a small persistent slab avalanche from a couple hundred feet away on a small slope below treeline.
Weather: Felt like spring temps. Some sun coming through broken skies. Calm winds, no snow.
Snowpack: More of the same, shooting cracks and collapses on anything with old snow; slabs here were ~18″ thick over large grained facets. A couple collapses required stomping. Tried to get one frequent flier to release with some stomping from nearby, but it just shattered and stayed put after the collapse.

Photos:

5701

Dec. 07, 2022

Gothic wx

Date of Observation: 12/07/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: It continues sunless with off and on wind, though none overnight. Almost constant snow except from mid-afternoon Tuesday until night but light snowfall overnight (4″, 0.21″ SWE) and very light density. The 24-hour totals are 9½” new and water 0.61″ with currently 30″ on the ground. Obscured again with basically no current snowfall except for a few flakes while calm. Temperature stays mild after high of 28 and the low, and current, 19. No wind. The new snow is light enough to have a limited effect on snow stability, though snowpack was still collapsing in places late yesterday. And the clouds continue. billy

5698

Dec. 06, 2022

Rumble in the jungle

Date of Observation: 12/06/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Schuylkill Ridge. Traveled on SE, E, NE and N aspects to 11,400′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A pair of large persistent slabs ran naturally this morning in First Bowl, probably sympathetic. From ridgetop, we remotely triggered another large slab in First Bowl which appeared to sympathetically trigger a large slab in Birthday Bowl. Crowns were 2 to 3 feet thick on average, failing on fist hard, large grained facets. Spotted three D1-1.5 natural persistent slabs in Climax Chutes. Numerous skier triggered and natural loose dry avalanches on all aspects below treeline, D1 in size. The light was too flat to see much else.
Weather: Snowfall rates tapered by the time we got to the trailhead around 11 a.m. Light to moderate rates this afternoon, with a short period of heavy snowfall. About a foot of low-density snow accumulated since early this morning. Winds were moderate at ridgetop with a decent amount of blowing snow.
Snowpack: Widespread collapsing and shooting cracks on everything with old snow at the base, mostly just while skinning and no stomping required. Went to a few frequent flier slopes BTL that rumbled and shattered but didn’t move. NTL suspect slopes produced a mix of shattering but staying put and shattering and releasing. On southerly aspects lacking old snow layers, we saw no evidence of slab instabilities except some cracking in the storm snow near wind drifted terrain. Sheltered terrain sluffed readily in the top 12″ of snow.

Photos:

5697

Dec. 06, 2022

Pittsburg storm obs and natural avalanches

Date of Observation: 12/06/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River Road to Pittsburg Rollers

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed a few natural avalanches. One slab in the storm snow on an east slope and a couple of slabs failed in weak snow at the ground on northeast slopes near and below treeline. A few small loose avalanches on a variety of aspects as the new snow was low-density and “sluffy”.
Weather: Around 14 inches of low-density snow at 1230pm at 10,4000 feet. Snowfall rates of 2″/hour during the morning. Light winds below treeline.
Snowpack: Recreational pow ski day. Snow depth is around 115cm on shaded aspects below treeline. The slab over the early season facets continues to gain strength (1 finger hardness and supportive to boots) and has made for fewer signs of instability underfoot; we often had to hop once while off the skin track to produce a loud, rumbling collapse.

Photos:

5696

Dec. 06, 2022

AMR storm snow

Date of Observation: 12/06/2022
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: AMR standard skinner

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: New loose dries by east bowl, ski cut storm snow sluff in amr tenure
Weather: Confirmed 6 inches new at base of anthracites. 4 more inches were on the sleds when we returned 4 hours later. Calm winds
Snowpack: Ski cut produced slow moving storm snow sluff which ran 1/3 or so of the slope, see photo. One small settlement descending the skinner trees down low.

Photos:

5695

Dec. 06, 2022

Gothic Wx and natural avalanche

Date of Observation: 12/06/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A moderately sized slab released ran off the peak area of Gothic yesterday but the new snow is very light so far so shouldn’t affect anything yet. It was about a 2-3 deep fracture facing east northeast running to ground just below the peak but starting at the ridgetop. It ran about 1800 feet but stopped before the run-out zone.
Weather: Very wet, dense snow Monday morning before stopping, then starting back near midnight but becoming heavy starting around 5 a.m. today but with a very light density balancing the snow out at 6″ new and water content 0.42″. Snowpack reached 24″. Currently obscured and snowing moderately with only light SW wind, though the wind was strong midnight until stopping around 4 before snow started up.

5694

Dec. 05, 2022

Whetstone M Face Bowl Natural

Date of Observation: 12/05/2022
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Old crown seen from highway.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: East facing above tree line. Large natural likely failing on ground.
Weather: Stormy

Photos:

5692

Dec. 05, 2022

Remote trigger and collapses on westerlies.

Date of Observation: 12/05/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on west facing terrain near and below treeline near Lake Irwin and east facing terran below treeline above Elk Creek.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: On west facing terrain at Irwin: We remotely triggered a small persistent slab from about 20 feet away (See video). The soft slab was up to 16″ thick, and failed on the topmost facet layer in stack of several facet/crust layers that were buried a week ago. The other steep slopes that we traveled near had all avalanched previously. Same for east facing terrain in Elk Creek: all of the paths that we approached slid naturally, probably during the Nov 29 storm.
Weather: Overcast, light snow and graupel, moderate ridgeline winds with periods of light transport. Mild temps.
Snowpack: Frequent collapsing and shooting cracks while breaking trail on west-facing terrain in the 20* to 30* range. The collapses are occurring on thin and weak facet crust sandwiches. Collapses were somewhat less common on east-facing terrain, perhaps because the slabs are thicker, but plenty of collapses nonetheless. There was an impressive amount of graupel in the top 10 cm of the snowpack. The slab continues to get stiffer and more supportive to skis, making for fun and fast skiing on low angle terrain. After clearly identifying that the terrain we were scouting had slid earlier in the week, we felt comfortable riding on those steeper pitches.

Photos:

5691

Dec. 05, 2022

Graupel shred

Date of Observation: 12/05/2022
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Pittsburgh rollers main skinner and rollers

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Didn’t see as previously reported but maybe I missed it, guessing from 11/29 or 12/2 storm, natural or triggered from below on skinner?
Weather: Spitting Graupel snow for the first lap and windy, then clearing and calming
Snowpack: 2 very small settlements, guessing lots had already collapsed from weekend tourers. A couple inches of new Graupel snow from overnight

Photos:

5690

Dec. 05, 2022

Gothic weather

Date of Observation: 12/05/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: A little bit of sun yesterday (hooray) as it stayed dry, then cloudy and very warm overnight with light but very dense snow, mostly graupel, with 2″ new and water 0.22″. Wind light to none. There is 19″ of snow on the ground matching this winter’s deepest. Currently a very light snowfall with today’s high 33F (yesterday was 36) and the current 28 after a low of 27. Is it April? –The graupel is making for another weak layer in the snowpack as the current pack continues to collapse.

5689

Dec. 05, 2022

Snodgrass Avalanche

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass viewed from Gothic Road

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Recent small slide just before Tuttle Cabin. See photo.

Photos:

5688

Dec. 04, 2022

Natural avalanche in Cat’s Hate Glades

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022
Name: Dan Hohl

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Toured up WA Gulch to Second Bowl. Multiple collapses in flats below Coney’s and on the uptrack.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One natural D1 avalanche in Cat’s Hat Glades. Bed surface did not appear filled in, likely occurred between in the last 24 hours.
Weather: Overcast skies, warm temps, light winds SW.
Snowpack: Average depth 75-80cm. Fist trending to 1F slab on top of large Facet layer located 45-55cm below the surface. Great riding conditions on lower angle terrain.

Photos:

5687

Dec. 04, 2022

Whumpfs, Humphs(?), and Jumphs

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: 9600ft-10800, on SE-ENE aspects. Stayed on slopes in mid 20°s to low 30°s steepness in very isolated spots with no overhead danger.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Despite incredible whumpfing all day long, many of which rippled through snow hundreds of feet away from us, we saw no avalanches that haven’t already been reported here. We did trigger shooting cracks extending as much as 50 ft long.
Weather: Intermittently overcast, light wind at ~11k ridgeline, eventually light snow in late afternoon. Temps were high 20s-low 30s
Snowpack: Performed two ECT tests at sites at BTL and NTL elevations, roughly ENE facing. Season snow totals in both locations were near 1 meter. Storm slab from the past few days was about 45 cm and quickly transitioned from Fist hardness in the top 5 cm to 4F, to 1F in the bottom ~15 cm of this new snow. Below were a few decomposing sun crusts that ranged from 1F- to almost not present (Fist hard) at our upper pit. Below those were 2-3 mm sized facets all the way to the ground; this layer was ~30 cm in depth, and Fist hard.

Lower Pit Results: ECTP 3, Q1/Sudden Collapse @ 23 cm (within basal facets); after more loading, we got: ECTN 14, Q1 @ 35 cm (storm snow-old snow interface)

Upper Pit Results: We prepped and saw that the extensive whumpfing had already collapsed the same layers we saw shear in our lower pit, which unsurprisingly gave us a false stable result of ECT X, but still saw the same problematic structure.

Beyond attempting to nerd out, the snowpack made for perfectly supportive hippy wiggles.

5686

Dec. 04, 2022

Natural Avalanches SE MTNS (Whetstone and Gothic)

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Pavement avalanche obs.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few natural avalanches from east and northeast aspects of Whetstone and Gothic Mountain. The Gothic avalanche clearly is big enough to bury a person(D2) and a couple on Whetstone looked to be large(D2) as well, but visibility was poor so made my best estimates on size.
Weather: Mostly cloudy conditions in the early afternoon when I made the observation.
Snowpack:

Photos:

5685

Dec. 04, 2022

Rumbling and shaking

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Slate TH up the lower switchbacks of Gunsight Road and back.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Mostly cloudy, no wind, no precip
Snowpack: Really noisy. Continuous rumbling collapses and shaking trees as we skied up the road. Very little cracking observed. Jumped at the top of several steep banksides with no results. HS at 9400’ 60 cm. Ski pen 5 cm, boot pen 60 cm, Labrador pen to the belly. The slab deposited this week was very supportive to skis, not so much for the pooch. An early retreat was called.

5684

Dec. 04, 2022

Marble

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Marble Point

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Evidence of previous Na cycle to size 3 (>72hrs old)
Weather: OVC, Warm temperatures 45F/7C at the parking area (8800ft) at 1030am
Snowpack: Above 10,000ft the upper snowpack was well settled and fast (4F resistance) with a 10cm skipen due to warm temps and previous wind. Below 10k the sfc is moist with a couple wet loose avalanches (<size 1) and large pinwheels on all aspects. 90cm of recent hst (4F) overlies an ugly mess of facets. Many whumphs in untracked areas with localized cracking.
TP @ 10,800ft, E Aspect, HS 130cm, CTM (SP) x2 dwn 90cm on the notable FC interface.

5683

Dec. 04, 2022

Brown skid marks in a white bowl

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Baxter Basin and Cascade Mtn, Traveled on various aspects up to 11700′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous natural D1.5 to D2 slabs from the last storm, most on North to East N/ATL, with a couple that rounded to Southeast and South-Southeast aspects. Light was flat so it was hard to make out exact sizes and crown connectivity. See photos. Tried getting some smaller terrain features to release without any luck.
Weather: Clouds increased mid-morning. Light winds with light transport at times. Mild temps.
Snowpack: Frequent collapses, some localized, some rumbling across entire terrain features. Slabs are generally 2 feet thick and average 4F hard over our well-advertised weak layers. We targeted a pit on a due south slope that held old snow prior to the recent storms. The crust capping the large-grained facets is about 6 cm thick, and tests did not propagate.

Photos:

5682

Dec. 04, 2022

Mount Bellview South

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022
Name: Benn Schmatz

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled from Gothic along Rustlers Gulch Road up onto the lower slopes of Mount Bellview. Knowing the severe instability of northerly slopes we were curious how
South aspects are faring.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: R2 avalanche in the top of the bowl on Mount Bellview under the cornice. R1 avalanche seen in Gnarnia on East face of Baldy as well
Weather: Mid 20’s. 5/8 to 8/8 clouds calm wind
Snowpack: Cracking and collapsing was constant during our tour except for slopes that were bare prior to the most recent storm cycle. We picked a slope similar in aspect to the upper slopes of Mount Bellview and found a very cohesive storm slab covered by 11cm of fresh, light snow. The slab is resting upon a firm layer of old snow form October and Novemeber. This firm layer of old snow was covered in a weak layer of weak deformed grains (facets or hoar… hard to tell). This layer under the slab failed an extended column test at 22 taps.

Photos:

5681

Dec. 04, 2022

RLB avy on looker’s left of main bowl

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022
Name: Jason Sumner

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Glades dad’ski. Standard skin track to goal posts. Standard ski down and out to road.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Viewed from skin track along ridge a decent sized crown and debris field on east side of bowl around 11,800 feet. Pulled out above rock band and ran into upper bowl on looker’s left.
Weather: Thin cloud layer. Intermittent gusty wind once out of forest and onto ridge.
Snowpack: Saw several cracks on way up and had one pronounced collapse during traverse from ridge to goalposts at around 12,000 feet on S/SW facing aspect. Coverage highly variable and quite thin in places due to wind transport but skiing was mostly decent all the way down to road.

Photos:

5680

Dec. 04, 2022

Recent naturals on Emmons, Schuylkill

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Slate River Road

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous recent D1 – D1.5 avalanches on Schuylkill Ridge and a few D2,  on E-NE aspects N/BTL. A few D1.5-D2 in Redwell Basin as well. See photos. Looks like most of these ran during the storm on Friday, but a few look crisp enough that they might have run yesterday.

Photos:

5679

Dec. 04, 2022

A few naturals on Climax and Schuylkill

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few D1.5 to D2 slides on NE and E aspects of Schuylkill and Climax, N/BTL that ran sometime in the past 2 days. Good views of some alpine terrain without any obvious crowns, hard to say whether the winds smoothed avalanches over or were just too strong to properly load the classic start zones.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
5678

Dec. 04, 2022

Gothic 7am Weather Update

Date of Observation: 12/04/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: A bit more of a ‘normal’ snow Saturday with 2″ new and a more what was once standard water content of 0.12″ of water. Snowpack reached 19½” deep and now at 19″, just slightly under average for this date. It was blissfully calm. Some clearing overnight and warm with the low 16F so far, after a high of 25F. Currently partly cloudy and calm. –Snow was still collapsing on level ground.

5677

Dec. 03, 2022

It’s alive

Date of Observation: 12/03/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mount Emmons, E and NE aspects below treeline

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Light snowfall, light winds.
Snowpack: Went back to some terrain that I had traveled through experiencing widespread cracking/collapsing during the first storm on Tuesday. This time there were fewer collapses but they were louder and some radiated further, up to 300 feet. Forested terrain is also developing enough of a slab for localized collapses in little openings. However, the avalanche slopes that we got collapses on did not slide; it seemed like there was just barely enough ground roughness to keep the ~16” soft slab in place.

Photos:

5676

Dec. 03, 2022

Poor visibility, decent snow

Date of Observation: 12/03/2022
Name: Sam Micka

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Up to the goal post on Emmons (via standard skin track), laps on the upper glades. Ski out standard exit

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed some naturals in the bowl but visibility did not allow a full picture of the slope.

Weather: Overcast, light snow, winds ~10mph above 11500, poor visibility.

Snowpack: Widespread collapsing and cracking above 11500 ft. About 5 or so inches of fresh powder. Photos include a shooting crack just off the standard skin track, some naturals in the bowl, and coverage from the “goal post” looking towards axtell and carbon.

Photos:

5675

Dec. 03, 2022

Reactive snowpack on the road to Gothic

Date of Observation: 12/03/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snodgrass Trailhead toward Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Visibility was fading but there was evidence of a large slide in Coon Basin. E-NE aspect.
I remote-triggered a small avalanche from the flats just off the road on an East aspect.
Weather: Increasing clouds and moderate snow mid morning.
Snowpack: Reactive. Every small test slope with older snow collapsed and cracked with little effort. Found one that finally ran after the collapse on a steeper slope that had been previously wind loaded.

 

[/gravityforms]
5674

Dec. 03, 2022

Gothic 7am Weather Update

Date of Observation: 12/03/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Wind Friday started moderate with strong gusting but by the afternoon was a steady blizzard with gusts around 40-50 mph- worst since last spring and the reason why people move to milder climates in winter. The snow was dense and wind driven so for the day there was 3″ new with water of 0.44″. Wind let up in the evening and it cleared and cooled with clouds returning around 3-4 a.m. The temperature rose from the low of 3F to the current 11 after a daytime high yesterday of 27. Currently cloudy and calm with 18″ on the ground, down from the hgh of 19″

5673

Dec. 02, 2022

Gibson Ridge Natural

Date of Observation: 12/02/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Driving into town.,

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: natural avalanche off Gibson Ridge immediately above the defensive berms. Did not look big enough to bury a person but probably take you for a ride.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5672

Dec. 02, 2022

West Snodgrass

Date of Observation: 12/02/2022
Name: Daniel K

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Started at Wash. Gulch winter TH and headed up to 10800 on the furthest north of the west facing bowls on Snodgrass.

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Windy enough at the TH to consider bailing. It had calmed down significantly by the time we finished a little after dark

Snowpack: HS ranged from 45cm at the deepest and barely anything on some of the scoured aspects. Some sporadic crust/facet basal layers found in flat areas and W aspects above 10200. One medium collapse on this layer around 10400 on 25-30 degree W slope and a few small collapses lower down in flats. No storm slab encountered, though wind effect gave some cream to the surface. Right side up everywhere we found new snow directly on the ground surface

5671

Dec. 02, 2022

Word of the day: Touchy

Date of Observation: 12/02/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: NE all day. Started at 9600′ up to 10,800′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Vis was poor on the sled ride up but we had one window which I noticed a disturbance in the snow BTL on a NE aspect. I assumed it was debris from a long-running slide path off the uphill ridge. Without binoculars, too hard to tell. On our ascent, we (obviously) felt, heard, and saw many signs of an incredibly unstable snowpack. Again, “touchy” is the word. Once on the ridge, above a suspect slope which is barely 30 degrees, one of my ski partners very easily kicked off a small slide which gouged to ground and funneled into the trees. Although not a large avalanche due to slope angle and terrain feature, it would have been a scary ride. On the ascent for our the second lap, we triggered another storm slab from about 100′ vertical below. Slab moved about 1′ at the apex and fractured most of the adjacent terrain (to ground), but low slope angle and small area meant that it didn’t quite have enough energy to fully rip.

Weather: Blustery and snowy

Snowpack: Most pole probes went to about 60cm on average. Relatively dense storm snow on top of garbage. Downhill was fun.

Photos:

5670

Dec. 02, 2022

Early season snowpack summary

Our first snowpack summary of the year is here.  A dryspell in late November caused the snowpack to become very weak, setting us up for dangerous conditions once the storm track returned.

CBAC early season snowpack summary
Dec. 02, 2022

Thick and Windy

Date of Observation: 12/02/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Kebler Area Tour. Northerly, 10,000ft to 11,500ft

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a couple of small slides. The first was while descending small, but steep terrain. The 2nd was while bouncing for a collapse, resulting in a remotely triggered avalanche from about 25 feet away.

Weather: Strong winds and blowing snow most of the day. Hard to gauge how much it was snowing vs blowing.

Snowpack: HST was about 20cm by 1 pm at 10,500ft. A distinct layer of graupel near the base of the storm and plenty of graupel mixed in with other perception particles within the storm now. Thick and supportive new snow. Made the low angles ski really well. Total HS in the area is around 100 to 120cm.

Lots of collapses and shooting cracks in the snowpack, as has been normal lately. Each time I looked, those cracks were extending down to the weak sandbox near the base of the snowpack.

Photos:

5667

Dec. 02, 2022

easily triggered slabs

Date of Observation: 12/02/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Crested Butte, gladed low angle skiing on northerly aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Ski triggered a couple of 12″ soft slabs breaking on our weak facet layer on small rollovers in the trees. Saw results from mitigation teams on Horseshoe that failed on the storm interface and old facet layers, D1 in size.
Weather: Moderate snowfall rates and strong winds with periods of intense wind transport.

Photos:

5666

Dec. 02, 2022

A noisy dog walk

Date of Observation: 12/02/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: East ditch trail above 4th and Red Lady

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Cloudy with nnow squalls. Moderate West wind in open areas.
Snowpack: On an afternoon dog walk, I was able to collapse just about every small slope I stepped on producing shooting cracks. These features were not big enough to run but larger ones certainly would have. Westerly winds were moving snow in open areas below treeline. 6-7″ of new snow from this storm, which was fairly dense.

 

Location

Location:
Location Specific:
Start Zone Elevation:
Aspect:

Characteristics

Trigger:
Trigger modifier:
Type:
Failure Plane:

Size

Relative Size:
Destructive Size:
Avg. crown height (inches):
Avg. width (feet):
Avg. vertical run (feet):

Involvements

# of people caught:
# of partial burials:
# of full burials:

Additional comments:

[/accordion_item] [/gravityforms] [/accordion]] 5665

Dec. 02, 2022

Billy Barr

Date of Observation: 12/02/2022
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Weather: Cloudy overnight with snow starting before 3 a.m. light to moderate but very dense with 3″ new and water 0.31″ with the snowpack at 16″. Gusting wind at times. Currently obscured with light snow. High temperatures the past 24 hours was 36F, low 24 and the current 25. A wet, heavy snow to start out.

5664

Dec. 01, 2022

Shooting cracks and collapse

Date of Observation: 12/01/2022
Name: Dan Hohl

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Second Bowl uptrack, Coney’s.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack: Collapse and shooting cracks observed on East facing slope Below Tree Line. Hasty pit showed a snow depth of 55cm with a failure interface 40cm below the surface, consisting of a crust/facet layer 2-3cm thick on top of depth hoar 2-3mm in size. The slab on top of this interface was 4F hardness.

Photos:

5661

Dec. 01, 2022

Snodgrass avalanches

Date of Observation: 12/01/2022
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: viewed from Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: two small avalanches on northeast slopes of snodgrass than ran late Wednesday or overnight.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Photos:

5660

Dec. 01, 2022

pow surf

Date of Observation: 12/01/2022

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: small hills near Snodgrass trailhead

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: some real small avalanches from the storm
Weather: sunny skies, snow blowing off summits
Snowpack: snow depth about 2 feet on shaded terrain. sporadic surface hoar moderate size.  a few small collapses. many slopes were covered in cracks but didn’t avalanche.

Photos:

5659

Dec. 01, 2022

More avalanche obs from Slate River area

Date of Observation: 12/01/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River TH to bottom of Purple Palace

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Continued documentation of the widespread avalanche cycle on East through North aspects.
Weather:
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5658

Nov. 30, 2022

Southerlies

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Rob Strickland

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard Red Lady and Standard Glady

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: saw many on the suspect Northern half of the compass (many reported already) plus the obvious cornice ridge collapse on an easterly ridge on skinner (also reported earlier).
A note I would add is that the lowest elevation snow was warming and wet this afternoon. even felt some crust forming in the shade… watching the snow from the trees drip onto the snow below. Crazy to think we started the day so cold and then to see melting on the snow the same day.
The snowpack was LOUD and collapses everywhere. Shooting cracks on most start zones (naturals) which I couldn’t get to move.
Obvious snow consolidation is evident around trees and bushes.
Very thin and somewhat supportive overall. I like what KH said, tips up, bums down!
Weather: sunny warming to 30*s (a guess)
Snowpack: Loud and shallow. ATL scoured and drifted. BTL getting deeper 500+ feet above Kebler (but still razor-thin in most places).
Are you sure we got 10″ – 17″ haha

Photos:

5657

Nov. 30, 2022

Slate River Avalanche Obs

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains/ Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River TH to the bottom of Purple Palace

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Documented a widespread cycle of avalanches from the recent storm on East through North aspects at all elevations. There were many small avalanches below treeline and numerous large D2-2.5 avalanches near and above treeline. The majority of these slides appear to have failed on 11/29 with the earlier ones filling back in a bit making them harder to identify.
Weather: Cold, had the handlebar warmers on high.
Snowpack:

 

[/gravityforms]
5656

Nov. 30, 2022

Natural cycle and remotely triggered avalanche

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River corridor to Purple Ridge skin track.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread natural avalanche cycle. Below treeline northerlies (weakest snowpack) ran during the storm with many small naturals. Near and above treeline slopes held out longer and produced large, dangerous avalanches. See photos. We remotely triggered one avalanche from 250 feet away that wrapped around some small terrain features producing a large (D2) avalanche on a NE slope.
Weather: Clear skies, cool temperatures, and light winds.
Snowpack: We traveled on mostly easterly aspects (NE-E-SE) slopes. Collapsing was rampant on north and east aspects. Some collapses ran a few hundred feet breaking in well-developed facets. The slab ranged from 10 to 15 inches thick in sheltered terrain. The depth, here in the snowbelt Northwest Mountains forecast area, was up to 90cm (3 feet) in sheltered areas. Signs of instability were obvious and the conditions behaved like a Persistent Slab problem with remote triggering a real concern.

Photos:

5655

Nov. 30, 2022

Tips Up Buns Down

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Glades

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Was a good size cornice break just above tree line.
Weather: Frigid and calm
Snowpack: Frequent cracking and whomping in upper meadows on the way up.

Tips up buns down skiing .. pretty thin snowpack up there

5654

Nov. 30, 2022

More slides

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Photos taken from near CB.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: See photos and details of natural activity from yesterday

Photos:

5651

Nov. 30, 2022

Natural activity in the SE Mountains

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of D1 to D2 avalanches on north and east aspects on Whetstone, Emmons, Gothic that ran yesterday. Had good views of S/SW facing terrain out by Copper Creek and Red Ridge with no obvious activity.

Photos:

5650

Nov. 30, 2022

Natural Activity in NW Mountains

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous D1.5- D2 soft slab avalanches on the eastern half of the compass that ran yesterday N/ATL. See photos and avy details below.  Evidence of moving snow on numerous other N/BTL shaded slopes, just hard to classify because they ran earlier in the storm and crowns are filled in.

Photos:

5649

Nov. 30, 2022

Gothic 7am Weather Update

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: bill barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Light off and on snow Tuesday- a very dense, small crystal, cold weather snow but only 1″ new and 0.11″ of water. Wind was steady about 8-15 mph from the west. Clearing overnight and cold with the low -10ºF. Currently clear and -8 and wind is calm. Snowpack sits at 16″.

5648

Nov. 29, 2022

The bush stopped my crack!

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022
Name: Evan Ross, Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch, Anthracite Mesa. NE to SE. 9,800ft to 10,800ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We saw a good number of small natural avalanches. D1’s on the aspects we traveled and at the below treeline elevation. Often easy to miss in both size and the poor light, and then ooo hey neighbor… Otherwise, the only other notable avalanches observed were a D1.5 and a D2 next to each other in Coney’s Bowl. They both had notable crowns in the 2ft range, but each ran out of accumulating mass and slope angle.

Weather: Accumulating snowfall and winds continued into the afternoon. The snowfall started to taper off in the early afternoon, while moderate winds remained. The obscured sky just started to break up towards the end of the day.

Snowpack: The subject line sums it up in a simple and frank way. On the NE to SE aspects we traveled the avalanche problem was reactive. We observed continued shooting crack throughout the tour. But those cracks most often wouldn’t propagate very far. The weak layer in this area was just too rough and interrupted by things like bushes and other ground clutter. We primarily traveled in an area with slope angles in the 35-degree or less range, had we been on steeper slopes we may have seen more movement as slabs may have overcome all the friction.

The weak layer is fairly simple. Large grained facets on the top of thick crusts on the SE end, to facets on thin crests around east, to just large and very weak facets on NE. We could dive in deeper but this is a quick summary. This particular weak layer just wasn’t that thick in this terrain. So it is often interrupted by vegetation and the ground. Near the rigeline and at our highest elevation traveled, the weak layer became thicker, more continuous, and lead to more notable avalanche results.

Storm totals on Washington Gultch Road were around 12″ in wind-sheltered areas. At first, this seemed low but made sense with the settlement. The storm snow was thick and slabby.

Photos:

5647

Nov. 29, 2022

Soft slabs of Snodgrass

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard (mostly) route to the top of Snodgrass. 9,600-11,200 feet.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Remotely triggered a soft slab (D1) at the top of first bowl (NE aspect).

Weather: Overcast with light snow.

Snowpack: About 12″ of new snow on top of a trashpile of fascets. Shooting cracks and shattering cracks on any steeper terrain. Easily triggered the top of first bowl on my first step onto the convexity. No idea how far it ran, but I suspect pretty far.

Photos:

5646

Nov. 29, 2022

Baxter

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Walked around camo today right at Baxter basin. Didn’t really ski much it was too deep.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes

Snowpack: About two feet of fresh snow out there. Took an hour to sled. Very touchy, cracks with every step. Had one collapse and then bailed.

Photos:

5645

Nov. 29, 2022

Storm slabs at AMR

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: AMR skinner, 7’s bowl, trees by skinner

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Naturals ran mid storm at skinner test slope, where the skinner crosses the suspect slope after the midway bench, steep side of baby bowl, east bowl.

Weather: Still snowing at 9 am, clear skies by noon. Cold and windy

Snowpack: Widespread shooting cracks, collapses, and whoomphs breaking trail on the skinner

Photos:

5644

Nov. 29, 2022

Shooting cracks on the Nordic Hill

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Nordic Hill. Northeasterly aspects around 9,000′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Remotely triggered one small pocket about 12″ deep on the faceted storm interface.  Triggered from 100 feet away.
Snowpack: 12″ of new snow. Touchy conditions. Widespread shooting cracks and spiderweb style cracking. There was just enough surface roughness with the ground to keep avalanches from happening on this small slope near town.

Photos:

5643

Nov. 29, 2022

Gothic 7am Weather Update

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Snow started around 7 p.m. and kept up until 6 a.m., though was heaviest from 9-12 p.m. Wind picked up around midnight and stayed steady. There was 9″ new snow and 0.70″ of water content with 16″ on the ground now- deepest this winter. Currently overcast with light to moderate wind and snow has paused for the time being. temperatures have been cool after a high yesterday of 32F and now the low and current of 10F. The new snow, dense and wind blown, is making a solid slab and sitting on top of the rotten base could allow for slab release in higher and steeper areas.
Snowpack:

5641

Nov. 28, 2022

Facet crust sandwiches in Red Lady Bowl

Date of Observation: 11/28/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Bowl, traveled on east and southeast aspects to 12,000′.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Got a few shooting cracks up to 10′ and tiny wind slabs to pop (3″ thick) on freshly drifted rollovers NTL.
Weather: Overcast. Moderate winds with periods of light blowing snow. Saw a few small plumes on other peaks.
Snowpack: Targeting weak layer development on the sunny aspects. In summary, the crust/facet layers are very weak on east aspects and get progressively stronger as you turn toward due south.The stronger crusts are more likely to survive early loading but could fail later in the season as more weight stacks up.

The snowpack structure on east to southeast aspects is a stack of crusts with very weak 2mm facets between, with some grains near the ground up to 4mm. The crusts change from stronger, thicker, and supportive on skis on due Southeast to very thin, punchy, and collapsible on due East.   See pits.  The crusts also appear to get thinner at higher elevations. There is also a surprisingly well-developed layer of facets on top of the crusts (~1.5mm facets). However, today’s winds were blowing this layer away in the alpine start zone. I found it fairly frequently, but not everywhere, in more sheltered rollovers lower in the bowl.

Photos:

5640

Nov. 28, 2022

Few more data points for Lower Brush Creek and Cement Creek.

Date of Observation: 11/28/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Lower Brush Creek and lower Cement Creek. Right in the donut hole.

Snowpack: Lower Brush Creek and lower Cement Creek is often characterized as being located within the “donut hole” portion of our greater forecast areas. This donut hole holds the least amount of snow when compared to the surrounding mountains. Anyway, this is of course the case right now.

Above treeline, old snow does exist around the compass. Though the southern half of the compass has spotty snow coverage on those slopes located closer to town and not as deep into the mountains.

Near treeline has old snow coverage on NW to NE. While W and E have some coverage but are fairly shallow and rough.

Below treeline, there is really just the northern quadrant to talk about for snow coverage. Even on north, the snow coverage is of course shallow, and often rough.

The camera is good a picking up “white” and “dark” colors but not so good at highlighting the finer details from afar. There is also a little bit of fresh snow in these photos and adding some white to non-problematic slopes.

Photos:

5639

Nov. 27, 2022

Significant Wind Loading around Yule Pass

Date of Observation: 11/27/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Climbed NTL: S, SE, E, NE; Skied ATL, NTL: NW, N, NE

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Saw a few D1-sized loose sluffs release naturally on leeward slopes triggered by active wind transport, which entrained top few inches of snow, and ran a few hundred feet in terrain ~35° in steepness.
Weather: Light snow; clear to cloudy; ATL winds from W, NW, N at ~20-30mph consistently
Snowpack: A huge range of snow conditions, depths, and structures. ~4 inches of new very dry snow NTL-ATL. Wind had transported up to ~6 inches of snow in leeward terrain by around noon.

No cracking or collapsing produced when skinning across suspect slopes with weak structure, and kicking cornices produced no results on slopes below.

New/wind transported snow was not stiffened yet and so made for decent skiing.

At lower more Easterly terrain snow was either icy, wind-stiffened, or sun-affected.

5636

Nov. 27, 2022

Gothic weather

Date of Observation: 11/27/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: This was the first measurable snowfall in 17 days so if just to keep in practice, here is the info. Just ½” new snow and water content 0.05″. Snowpack has held at 6″ deep for weeks though dropped to 5½” yesterday but now back at 6″. Total snowfall so far this winter ranks 49th of the past 50 years. That tells you something. Snow on the ground is rotten. Cleared towards sunrise and it is mild with yesterday’s high 43F and currently the morning low of 20F. With all the clear weather the daily lows have been below average but highs above, but overall a cool month.

5634

Nov. 26, 2022

Baxter basin NFace Schuylkill

Date of Observation: 11/26/2022
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Toured with Owen Berv and Holden Bradford up Baxter basin on the Schuylkill side of the basin. Fully changed our tour plan to avoid crossing a wind loaded gully above exposure that we were concerned about after noticing more sensitive than expected small wind slabs when skinning over lower angle convexities lower in the drainage.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: While skiing we all got slow moving facet sluffs to run a good 800’. Not concerning in the terrain we skied but could be in more extreme terrain.
Weather: Sunny. Slight Winds from the west.
Snowpack: Thin. 40 Cm’s?

Photos:

5633

Nov. 26, 2022

Snow coverage obs

Date of Observation: 11/26/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains and Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Driving tour, Gothic Road, Washington Gulch, Slate River, and Kebler Pass

Observed avalanche activity: No
Snowpack: The northern half of the compass has continuous snow coverage at all elevations. We know the snow there is weak and faceted. Coverage continues around the southern half of the compass above treeline, except for the shallowest areas or wind-eroded slopes on the southwest quadrant. Below treeline, most slopes have melted out on SE, S, SW aspects. The sunnier halves of W and E have some melted-out slopes as well, especially in the shallower parts of the forecast area.  A few example photos below.  All photos are here.

Photos:

5632

Nov. 25, 2022

Weak

Date of Observation: 11/25/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracite Mountain Resort, northerly and east aspects to 11,200′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Triggered a few shallow sluffs in East Bowl. They’re still quite small and not gouging through the whole snowpack like we’ve seen in previous seasons this time of year.
Weather: Clear, mild, calm.
Snowpack: Documenting weak layers on the shady aspects in advance of a pattern change next week. In short, it’s shallow and weak.  See profiles. The snow surface is very weak below treeline (F-) and will struggle to hold any kind of load. It’s faceted throughout, generally 1-1.5mm here. Sluffs are entraining the top 6″ or so, but would probably gouge deeper once they gained enough mass. In more wind-affected terrain NTL, the snowpack is more variable and surfaces are a stronger mix of wind crusts and old wind drifts. However, there’s plenty of weak, faceted snow below these harder layers. In previously wind-eroded areas, those facets are larger and more developed than below treeline.

Photos:

5631

Nov. 24, 2022

The wind wasn’t kind.

Date of Observation: 11/24/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Purple Ridge Lap. Easterly, 9,600-11,500ft.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: None

Weather: Trace of new snow. Few clouds. Moderate winds continuing to transport a little snow near ridgelines.

Snowpack: The recent northerly wind event sure wasn’t kind to the snow surface and riding conditions. Many slopes now have a variety of lovely textures like wind-board, wind crust, firm wind texture, soft wind texture, and wind-exposed crusts. Though it’s not all doom and gloom, there are still some areas with a soft snow surface, just fewer of those areas than a couple of days ago.

I didn’t encounter any thick wind drifts, but there were a lot of thin, hard slabs or wind-boards dispersed through the terrain. Given how weak the old snow is, these thin drifts often collapsed and occasionally produced shooting cracks. Though the actual slab size was very small. Looking around the area there were some cross-loaded terrain features and a few southerly-facing slopes, that may be holding some bigger slabs.

Photos:

5630

Nov. 23, 2022

Survived the Schofield ice bulge

Date of Observation: 11/23/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Baldy, E and NE aspects N/BTL

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We ski triggered a couple of slow-moving facet sluffs that entrained the top 6” of facets on a sheltered, near treeline slope.
Weather: Winds and clouds started increasing around noon. No real snow transport, just some facets rolling and bouncing along the snow surface.
Snowpack: Got one crack in a small hard drift that propagated about 6 feet. Snow surfaces varied from hard drifts to wind crusts to sastrugi to cohesionless ~2 mm facets.

Photos:

5629

Nov. 22, 2022

Collapsing drift

Date of Observation: 11/22/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Skinned out to Carbonate Hill via Pearl Pass Road and returned the same route.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A small wet loose avalanche off of the SW side of Star Peak, probably ran yesterday.
Weather: Mild temps, some high thin clouds at times. Light winds
Snowpack: Observed one alarmingly loud collapse on a cross-drifted terrain feature on Carbonate Hill, on a SW aspect ATL. The slab was thin but hard. The loading pattern from last week’s winds appears to have blown snow off of all aspects near ridgeline start zones and deposited into concave catchments lower on slopes. Surfaces are wind-affected, hard, and variable above treeline, often with weak facets below hard wind crusts. Below treeline the snowpack is 8″ or less of cohesionless facets, ~2mm. Let’s just say the ski quality out there is sub-par.

Photos:

5628

Nov. 20, 2022

No feedback from wind slab problem

Date of Observation: 11/10/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Purple Ridge, traveled on E, NE, and N aspects to 12,300′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Some minor dry loose avalanches triggered by solar warming yesterday and today off of steep, rocky terrain features.
Weather: Clear, light ridgetop winds, temperatures rebounding.
Snowpack: Went hunting for feedback from our wind slab problem. There were only a few features of concern that I could safely approach and stomp around on, and I got minimal cracking. In contrast, these same types of features were more reactive late last week.
Otherwise, most terrain has soft snow that continues to facet and weaken. It’s becoming unsupportive below treeline and on shallower, rocky areas near treeline.

Photos:

5625

Nov. 19, 2022

Still soft, can’t believe it

Date of Observation: 11/19/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: 9,800-12,500. Primarily SE aspects with a couple of variations to NE and E. Augusta.

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Clear and Calm.

Snowpack: The moderate to strong winds from this past week sure has redistributed the snow and affected the snow surface. Surprisingly the snow was still skiing great, even in some areas where the snow surface didn’t look good from afar. We didn’t encounter any wind slab issues off the SE summit of Augusta. While the NE face had some thick drifts from recent cross-loading and looked problematic. We encountered another cross-loaded terrain feature lower down that also looked concerning. This feature again had a big fetch going into a NE aspect. There was a clear area where ski pen went from say 15cm in depth, to 1cm in depth, and back. All stacked on a weak-faceted snowpack. All in all, managing for wind slabs was the primary avalanche problem we encountered. Those wind loading patterns looked variable and that pattern wasn’t easy to describe in one particular way. There was also the slightest dusting of new snow that must have fallen on Friday and it was making it more difficult to identify some areas of harder wind slabs or wind board.

Snow surfaces stayed cold on SE slopes throughout the day.

Photos:

5624

Nov. 18, 2022

Reading the signs

Date of Observation: 11/18/2022
Name: Zach Guy Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper East River, Nirvana Bowl on Baldy

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed a D1.5 Wind Slab that likely ran yesterday or overnight. Ski-triggered another Wind Slab from ridgeline adjacent to the natural. This one propagated a bit wider and reached D2 size entraining the softer snow in wind-protected terrain as it ran around 600 ft. Debris was up to 5 ft deep.
Weather: Partly Cloudy, felt like January, light NW winds with moderate gusts.
Snowpack: We traveled primarily on S and SE aspects near and above treeline. 4-5 inches of low-density, faceting snow is resting on crusts from earlier in November.  As we gained elevation towards the ridge a thin wind crust was present on the surface. Closer to the ridge the wind crust grew to an obviously thicker slab up to 18″ thick. Northerly winds caused off-and-on snow transport onto southerly aspects.

Photos:

[/accordion]] 5623

Nov. 17, 2022

A couple little wind slabs

Date of Observation: 11/22/2022
Name: Jack Caprio

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: South Fork Crystal River. Traveled on S, SE, and N aspects up to 12,500’

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 2 small skier triggered wind slabs. 1 was about 5-8” deep, and traveled about 250’. The other was about 3-4 inches deep, and traveled about 100’.

Weather: Cold and clear. Light winds with moderate gusts out of the west.

Snowpack: In the terrain we traveled, the wind slabs were reactive in north facing terrain. We encountered wind slabs of similar size and hardness on S and SE facing terrain and they seemed to be much more stubborn.

Photos:

5621

Nov. 15, 2022

A pair of triggered slabs

Date of Observation: 11/15/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Baldy, traveled on E to N aspects to 11,900′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Intentionally ski triggered a pair of small slab avalanches on an east facing, cross drifted ridge near treeline. The slabs were up to 12″ thick, ~25 ft wide, 4F+ on average. One previous natural on a NE aspect, likely from last week. All small in size.
Weather: Too cold for my toes. Light breeze, no snow transport. Scattered cloud cover. An inch of snow in the past 24 hours.
Snowpack: Found ourselves on a particularly chatty east facing slope that produced numerous collapses and shooting cracks ranging from 10 to 50 feet, failing on a thin, faceted crust (Nov 3). Once we got to a ridge where it was more drifted, we popped a couple of slabs by collapsing the slope while skinning. No other signs of instability on other slopes.

Photos:

5619

Nov. 15, 2022

One inch more then yesterday

Date of Observation: 11/15/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate. E to NE, 9,700 to 12,000ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several small sluffs or possibly a couple very small wind slabs above treeline.

Weather: Partly cloudy ski in the morning becoming mostly cloudy early afternoon. Calm to light winds and cold temps.

Snowpack: Around an inch of very low-density new snow for the most part, becoming a few inches of new snow above 11,000ft. A little bit of fresh drifting above treeline on the most wind-exposed terrain. Pushed one very small wind slab that was isolated to right at the ridgeline.

The old hard slabs that are hiding out on some previously wind-loaded terrain features didn’t show any obvious signs of instability today, or this past Sunday. In general, as the snowpack continues to weaken with the cold weather, the interface between those old slabs and the facets below continues to become less pronounced. Both the grain size and hardness are often changing gradually between the layers of snow vs abruptly like when that avalanche problem was fresh.

The skiing is still surprisingly good in some areas.

Photos:

5618

Nov. 13, 2022

Surface obs from Pearl Pass Area

Date of Observation: 11/13/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Working on a weather station on Carbonate Hill, descended Timbered Hill to Death Pass, traveling mostly on south to west aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A small natural windslab on Carbonate from last storm. D1.
Weather: Light winds, clouds streaming in from the south. Ridgetop temp in the 20’s.
Snowpack: Fairly continuous coverage across all aspects at higher elevations, with the deepest/most continuous coverage on north to east facing terrain. Mid to low elevation southerlies are the only bare slopes at the moment. A couple of inches of recent snow was redistributed by winds above treeline and is now faceting over a variety of wind hardened surfaces. Near surface facets are more developed and more widespread as we descended in elevation; snowpack is generally faceted throughout below treeline, with one or two crusts on sunnier aspects. Snow depths are generally about 12″ to 18″ at 11,000′ and only a few inches at valley bottom.

Photos:

5617

Nov. 12, 2022

A few collapses

Date of Observation: 11/12/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate, traveled on N, NE, and E aspects to 12,200’.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: None
Weather: High thin clouds, calm winds. Inverted temps this morning.
Snowpack: Not much to add onto yesterday’s obs. Snow surface is faceting quickly. We got several moderate sized collapses near treeline on previously cross-drifted east aspects. Got moderate propagating test results on similar NE facing slopes, 2’ deep on the 11/3 facet layer (see video). Also traveled through a lot of terrain that was lacking any kind of previous drifting or slab formation or signs of instability. We did get one collapse on an east facing, sheltered BTL slope, where a thin crust (11/3) helped propagate the collapse about a foot deep in an otherwise soft snowpack. I doubt this is an issue on sheltered slopes, but it highlights how collapsible that crust is.

 

Photos:

5616

Nov. 11, 2022

Nice riding conditions and lingering signs of instability

Date of Observation: 11/11/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Baldy Mountain via Gothic Corridor.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed a couple of small recent avalanches than appeared to fail in the recent snow. All above treeline; north through east aspects.
Weather: Cold air temperatures, light northwest winds with some occasional gusts transporting tiny amounts of snow under mostly clear skies.
Snowpack: We traveled mostly through easterly aspects up to 12,200. New snow accumulations ranged from 4-8″. Relatively light winds during and following the recent snowfall did not produce much loading; a nearby northwest-facing (windward) alpine feature was still holding much of the recent storm snow (see photo). While ascending easterly slopes near treeline we experienced a couple of moderate-sized collapses; a test profile revealed facets sitting atop the 11/3 melt/freeze crust. The overlying slab was around 60cm thick and remains soft in sheltered areas but could produce avalanches on terrain features with previous drifting. The most recent snowfall made it difficult to visually identify terrain features with previous drifting and stiffer more cohesive slabs. Additionally, we traveled on alpine southeast-facing terrain and found around 8″ of new snow resting on a supportive to skis melt/freeze crust with a foot of dry snow below that with some ice columns supporting the crust to the ground.

Photos:

5615

Nov. 11, 2022

Baxter Basin

Date of Observation: 11/11/2022
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Pittsburg to the top of Cascade. 9,200-11,600. NE to SE to SW.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few small point releases in the new snow in rugged terrain from Schuylkill to Daisy Pass, but nothing significant.
Weather: Blue sky, light to moderate NW winds, temps in the teens and 20s.
Snowpack: Soft and deep(ish) on the north aspects, with some underlying, collapsible crusts observed while pole probing. 4″ or so of new snow on firm crust on the south aspects. One small collapse in flat, east facing willowy area. Coverage was a little thin in places, but overall, nice skiing!

5614

Nov. 11, 2022

Surface refresh

Date of Observation: 11/11/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate. Traveled on SE to NE aspects to 12,000′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few minor point releases and a harmless soft slab that ran naturally during the storm on Mineral Point, all D1.
Weather: Chilly, light breeze at ridgetop, clear skies.
Snowpack: 4″ to 6″ of settled new snow, a little deeper in drifted terrain. Fairly minor amounts of wind effect in the new snow, with isolated cracking in shallow drifts near ridgeline. I targeted a test pit on a terrain feature that was heavily cross-loaded from last weekend’s northwest winds. See photo. I got hard propagating results in facets below a crust near the ground (11/3 interface). The slab was 1F hard and about 2 feet thick. Poor structures like this appeared to be fairly isolated throughout the terrain (based on probing and visuals), likely just in heavily drifted features. We also observed several localized collapses underfoot on low angle east facing slopes near treeline. The collapses were on the same weak layer, but the crust was thinner and without much of a slab above it.  Below treeline shady aspects are soft throughout without slab development and no signs of instability. The fresh snow surface is soft and fairly uniform across the terrain right now..no doubt the facet machine is cranking with our current and upcoming weather pattern.

Photos:

5613

Nov. 07, 2022

Like skiing in the Front Range

Date of Observation: 11/07/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Toured into Peeler Basin and upper Oh-Be-Joyful Basin from Lake Irwin, traveling on various aspects up to 12,000′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Just some rollerballs on southerly aspects today.
Weather: Mild, few clouds, light to moderate SW winds.
Snowpack: Shallow and wind hammered sums it up. Traveled mostly near and above treeline, where its tough to find snow surfaces softer than 4F, except for random patches of unsupportive facets. Last weekend’s winds did some damage, with lots of erosion from W to NW winds. The snowpack is weakest on N and NW slopes, but generally lacks a slab except for isolated pockets of deeper crossloading. Surfaces on those slopes were stiff wind crusts or softer sastrugi, with faceting through much of the snowpack. The east quadrant held recently drifted snow up 1F hard, highly variable in slab thicknesses up to at least 18″. Kind of spooky to travel on because it wasn’t always obvious if you were on a stiff slab or just a firm wind crust without some digging. Stability tests on east aspects produced moderate propagating results on the 11/3 interface (a faceted crust), though we observed no signs of instability on the slopes that we traveled. I avoided approaching some of the meatiest looking drifts for fear of remote triggering or getting tangled in a stiffer slab. Southerly aspects were getting cooked into what will be a supportive crust tomorrow.
The thin ice crust described in previous obs was also present near the snow surface in some areas; it appeared to be formed by a riming event in this area – generally present only on terrain windward to southwest flow, up to ridgetop. It was on the south side of Scarp Ridge, in a few spots in Peeler, and absent in OBJ.

Photos:

5611

Nov. 06, 2022

Cinnamon Mtn zone

Date of Observation: 11/06/2022
Name: Eric Murrow Ben Pritchett

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobile ride from Washington Gulch to Schofield Pass area. Ski tour on the northern end of Cinnamon Mountain.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We triggered one small avalanche on a northeast-facing slope, around 11,900′. The avalanche was triggered on a 25-degree slope just off the ridge and propagated into an adjacent wind-drifted feature over 40 degrees in steepness
Weather: Ridgeline Wind Speed: 5-10 mph
Ridgeline Wind Direction: W
Wind Loading: None
Temperature: 33 F
Sky Cover: Overcast
Depth of New Snow: 2 cm
Depth of Total Snow: 60 cm
Weather Description: Warm (just above freezing), snowing lightly (even misting rain off mid day).
Snowpack: We found the November 5th rain crust throughout our trip. Above 11,000 the crust is too thin to play a long-term role, but it’s worth tracking the evolution of this crust below treeline if it remains near the snow surface with cool weather. It could become a problematic faceted crust in time.
Snow height ranged from 20-30cm deep in lower Washington Gulch up to an average 60-70cm deep in wind-sheltered locations near treeline in the Paradise Divide area.
We found recently drifted slabs mostly above treeline, on northerly and easterly-facing slopes near ridgelines. Only the wind-loaded features with a broad and open fetch on their windward side posed a problem. Fresh slabs from the wind on Saturday were generally in the 40-50cm range, resting on a layer of small (1mm) facets.
Wind-sheltered slopes were right-side-up, with denser supportive snow near the ground and soft snow on top.

Photos:

5609

Nov. 05, 2022

Sensitive wind drifts and a rain crust?

Date of Observation: 11/05/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Toured from Pittsburg to the bottom of Baxter Basin.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: none observed. Visibility was poor.
Weather: Overcast skies, foggy conditions and very light snowfall.
Snowpack: Only toured up to 10,600′ on easterly and northeasterly low-angle terrain. Each drifted test slope we encountered collapsed and cracked (generally east and northeast aspects). The drifted snow failed on small-grained facets buried on Wednesday night. Slabs were up to 4f hard and 16 inches thick. We also encountered a thin (5mm) crust on the surface that appeared to be from a short period of rain Friday night or Saturday morning. It was present up to 10,600′ where we stopped uphill travel.

Photos:

5608

Nov. 05, 2022

Gusty

Date of Observation: 11/05/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mount Baldy, easterly aspects to 11,200′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: On wind loaded southeast facing test slopes, we triggered a few slabs up to 18″ thick, 4F hard, failing in the recent storm snow.
Weather: Significant increase in winds since yesterday. Moderate northwest winds with strong gusts, with moderate snow transport where we traveled below treeline. Overcast with very light snowfall.
Snowpack: Total snow depth is generally 18″ to 24″ deep. Isolated wind slabs forming below treeline, with slabs growing thicker and more widespread as we approached treeline. Shooting cracks in drifted slopes, generally on east to south aspects. Significant scouring off of exposed north-facing terrain above treeline.

Photos:

5607

Nov. 04, 2022

fresh snow and wind transport at paradise divide

Date of Observation: 11/04/2022
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: sledded up wash gulch to paradise divide, skinned up looker’s right side of WSC bowl, skied main WSC bowl below the rocky chutes

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: no new avalanche activity
Weather: cold, in and out of clouds all morning with minimal snowfall, moderate winds out of the north effectively transporting new snow
Snowpack: 8-10 inches new snow. See photos for evidence of wind transport – partially covering skin track in between laps, and crossloading of west facing gullies in the bowl

Photos:

5606

Nov. 04, 2022

Good stability in wind sheltered terrain

Date of Observation: 11/04/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Bellview to 12,200′, on east and south aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few harmless (D1) slides that started from above treeline on Gothic and Baldy. Couldn’t discern if they were soft slabs or loose avalanches because of flat light.
Weather: A mix of clouds and sun. Moderate northerly winds were drifting snow at ridgetop onto southerly aspects.
Snowpack: Storm total was about 6″, not enough to cause any real concerns in wind sheltered terrain.  Wind effects were fairly minor as we gained elevation: fresh cornices at ridgetop were sensitive but small, with very small pockets of soft slab releasing below. Total snow depth increased to about 2 feet deep near/above treeline. The storm interface transitions from small facets (on shadier aspects) to a melt-freeze crust (on sunnier aspects) right around due East (90*).

Photos:

5605

Nov. 02, 2022

Ruby Range alpine ob

Date of Observation: 11/02/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Toured from base of switch back at the head of Slate River up towards Purple Mountain.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Sunny skies, mild air temperatures, and moderate wind speeds with small amounts of snow transport above treeline.
Snowpack: Continuous snow coverage exists on the north half of the compass in this portion of the forecast area ranging from around 10 inches below treeline to a bit more than 2 feet above treeline. Small faceted grains (less than 1mm) comprise much of the snowpack on shaded slopes. Above treeline on northerly slopes, the snow surface was a mix of stiff windboard and soft faceted grains. At the highest elevations, there is a melt/freeze crust resting on the ground from snow early in the fall (see profile image). The few sunny slopes traveled showed a shallow, moist snowpack without any concerning weak layer formation.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
5604

Nov. 02, 2022

Pre-storm surface obs from Kebler

Date of Observation: 11/2/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Driving Kebler Pass

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Sunny, breezy, mild temps. A few snow plumes off of the high peaks this morning.
Snowpack: The current surface is our most pronounced and widespread weak layer to date. There is continuous snow coverage across most West to North to East aspects at all elevations. The southern quadrant has patchier coverage above treeline and is mostly melted off below treeline. Below treeline, snow depth averages about 10 inches in the shade. The snowpack is .5-.7mm developing facets on steep northerlies, with large surface hoar in open areas below treeline. On southerlies and flat terrain, the snowpack was wet grains throughout, with no obvious weak layer development.

Photos:

5603

Oct. 29, 2022

Halloween bowl natural

Date of Observation: 10/29/2022
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Toured from Scofield pass with Whitney and Lawson

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural slab avalanche around 11,800ft N face in Halloween bowl. Assuming it ran on Wednesday.
Weather: Sunny, upper 30’s
Snowpack: 35-40cm?

Photos:

5600

Oct. 27, 2022

Gothic Weather 10/27

Date of Observation: 10/27/2022
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Steady snow yesterday before a pause near sunset and then scattered light snow during the night before picking up around 4 a.m. and stopping before 6 am.  The 24 hour total is 10″ new with 0.66″ of water.  The snowpack is currently at the winter’s deepest of 14″.  It is overcast and calm and no longer snowing.
Snowpack:

5599

Oct. 26, 2022

Gothic Weather

Date of Observation: 10/26/2022
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Snow did not start until around 4 a.m. and was moderate from 5-6:30 but now light with 2½” new and water 0.18″. Cloud cover obscured with the low, and current, a mild 27F after yesterday’s 6F (a record low for that date but only back to 2000). Total snow this winter (i.e. the past couple days) is 8½” with water content of 0.86″. Snowpack currently at 6″. Wind is light at 2-4 mph from the SW.

5598

Oct. 26, 2022

South Baldy

Date of Observation: 10/25/2022
Name: Alex R

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Monday afternoon toured up Washington Gulch. One vehicle ahead of us with chains made it to Paradise Divide, but we had a Subaru and parked below Elkton. The road above Elkton had plenty of coverage to ski on. Continued into the center of the South bowl of Baldy and descended along the same route. 14-16” in the upper portion of the South bowl, less in the lower basin. If you skied lightly, you didn’t hit many rocks. The snow in the upper bowl felt supportive, with a consolidated but thin snowpack due to wind and some solar effect on Monday afternoon. Wind loading on the south west ridge about 10,000’.
Drove up again on Tuesday and the road had melted quite a bit below Elkton, but still held about 10” of snow about Elkton. Depending on how much snow we receive in this mid week storm, the road may become difficult for vehicle travel.

Observed avalanche activity: No

Photos:

5597

Oct. 25, 2022

A little bit of snow out there

Date of Observation: 10/24/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Purple Ridge

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: None observed
Weather: Felt like winter, Partly to Mostly Cloudy, moderate northerly winds with stronger gusts on ridge-top, temps in the 20s
Snowpack: 12-15″ of snow from the recent storm above 11K.  Small drifts up to 2 feet just below ridge-top. Some cross-drifting was observed on the easterly faces of the Ruby Range. On a North aspect at 12K, older snow from early October was a Pencil hard crust. Northerly winds were moving new snow off of these aspects fairly effectively. No signs of instability in any terrain traveled.

Photos:

 

 



 

 

Oct. 21, 2022

October layer

Date of Observation: 10/21/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains and Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Satellite imagery of entire zone

Observed avalanche activity: No
Snowpack: See photos of 10/18/22 Sentinal satellite imagery of snow coverage lingering on a few high northerly slopes.

Photos:

5591

Oct. 21, 2022

Lingering snow coverage on high north

Date of Observation: 10/21/2022
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Crystal Pass

Observed avalanche activity: No
Snowpack: See photos of lingering coverage on northerly aspects of Italian, Lambertson, Crystal, and Hunter Hill

Photos:

5590