Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 01/22/2019
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Great Skiing And Quiet Snowpack
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 9,000-11,300ft
Avalanches:
Few small, loose snow like avalanches out there. No new slabs observed from the last 24hr with a good views of the upper OBJ and Slate basins.
Weather: Partly cloudy, light winds, cold temps. Didn’t observe any blowing snow and had good views of the high peaks. Doesn’t mean snow was not drifting on the peaks and not visible form a distance.
Snowpack: This snowpack is definitely making, or has made the transition out of the classic continental snowpack that exits in other areas around Crested Butte. Did not bother digging down to the middle of the snowpack to observe the old NSF layer of concern. That rounding NSF layer of concern was documented form this same area in this observation on January 12th, and in Washington Gulch on January 15th. The potentially buried SH was not observed and wether or not the SH was there, I definitely didn’t dig down deep enough to answer that question. No sings of instability observed. Skinned and skied on slopes in the upper 30 degrees. Some of which have avalanched a couple times this year and some that haven’t.
Wind-loading from last night or yesterday could not be seen. The snow looked to have fallen as the wind eased overnight and covered up any previous wind-loading evidence at ridgeline. Cornices remain smaller then normal for the time of year at ridgeline and recent wind texture showed that these cornices were being slightly eroded overnight vs loading these NE slopes.
Photos: