Halloween in Paradise

CB Avalanche Center2015-16 Observations

Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 10/31/2015
Name: Dustin
Subject Halloween in Paradise
Aspect: South East, South, South West
Elevation: 11,200-13200

Avalanches: Saw a previously triggered (assumed to be natural) wet loose/slab on a SSE aspect R1 D1 with a crown around 3-4 inches. Also skier triggered a wet loose R1 D1 on a SW slope with exposed rock nearby.. Slide started small but pinwheeled and picked up snow on 5-10cm crust on the ground.
Weather: Sunny and breezy with clouds increasing during the day. Little snow transport witnessed.
Snowpack: Snowpack is largely on slopes that were loaded from the storm earlier this week with strong NW winds. Many windward slopes blown clean of snow. The base of the pack on solar aspects ranges from crusts on the ground to no snow at all. This was topped with a dense wind slab of varying thickness dependent on the slopes’ relation to the wind. The small dusting of new snow sat on top.