Observations

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

Zone: Northwest Mountains and Southeast Mountains

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

Photos:

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

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

Date of Observation: 02/06/2021

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Near Baldy
Aspect: East
Elevation: ATL

Avalanches: Multiple D2 crowns that ran last night. See photo.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 02/06/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Mt. Axtell
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East, South
Elevation: Near to above treeline

Avalanches: Extensive persistent slab activity across the upper bowls of Mt. Axtell. Crowns averaged 4 feet deep breaking on weak layers near the ground. Some of the more impressive propagation across multiple start zones or whole bowls that I’ve seen up there. Debris piles from the two largest slides snapped lots of trees and reached well into valley runouts, D3.5 in size. Bedsurfaces had a few inches of snow on them; the slides ran last night sometime, on N, E, and S aspects. We didn’t observe any more natural activity on Axtell or surrounding terrain today. See photos for highlights.
Had good views of the W/SW side of Whetstone and no activity there. Decent views of the north side of Carbon and saw one D2.
Weather: Cool temps, mostly cloudy. Moderate winds with a few strong gusts in exposed terrain. Moderate drifting continued above treeline, light drifting near treeline.
Snowpack: About 6″ to 8″ of new snow near the bottom of the skin track. Riding out to Splains Gulch on sleds felt more like 15″ to 18″. We mostly traveled in dense trees, windswept ridgelines, or low angle south-facing terrain and only experienced one large collapse. We tried stomping near a few N/BTL start zones that didn’t run last night without results.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 02/06/2021
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Irwin Tenure

Avalanches: Patroller capture and full burial on Sunny Shoulder Right (SW@ 11.6k near TL) during AM ski checks. Companion rescue, no injuries. The SS-ASu-R2/D2-O 75cm x 15m x 100m ran on a crust, but not the most recent crust; stepped down lower in the track; and fetched up in the compressions zone producing a debris field ~75m wide and up to 3m deep in spots. The slope was not open, but was being prepared for opening. It received ~30 lbs of explosives (6 shots) yesterday including a 17lb air blast.

Also, Ruby ran wall to wall, maybe D3+, probably last night during peak PI or wind. You probably heard.
Weather:
Snowpack: HST 17″ with .9″ of water. 13″ of that came overnight last night. Despite strong alpine winds, transport and Wind Slab were not significant factors near and below treeline in areas travelled. Excellent powder skiing. Explosive testing produced no results. Ski testing also produced no notable results, with the following notable exception.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 02/06/2021
Name: Emma Lohr

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Slate River Road
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East
Elevation: 10,500

Avalanches: A multitude of very large avalanches from Climax back into Poverty Gulch. Some with start zones in the high alpine, and some running from mid-slope.
Weather: Short-lived cloud lifting provided good viewing of the full effect of last night’s winds. Snowing on and off throughout the day. Seemed to be more wind transport than accumulation.
Snowpack: Kept it low angle, with some cracking observed on more continuous slopes. Got a few collapses on an already broken skin track, as well.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 02/06/2021

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Slate
Aspect: North, North East
Elevation: Treeline to below treeline

Avalanches: Too many to count. From Climax Chutes, all along Schuykill Ridge around the corner to north facing aspects above Daisy Creek. Climax release snapped a tree 2 feet in diameter by the River Flats bathroom and left powder cloud debris on the Slate road (light snow, pine needles and some branches). Releases from the high basin above the town of Pittsburgh from numerous aspects left a considerable amount of debris on a large bench area adjacent to the top of the “rollers.” I’ve included just a few examples of the carnage.
Weather: Nice, warming, light snow off and on
Snowpack: 8 inches new overnight and plenty of evidence of wind but not in protected areas. No sign of instability in a low angle slope that has seen plenty of traffic all season long.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 02/06/2021
Name: Zach Kinler
Zone: SE/NW mountains

Avalanches: Many large and widely propagating avalanches were observed during a brief clearing that allowed views of Mt. Emmons, Gothic, Belleview, Schuylkill and Redwell. Leeward aspects in this “transition zone” from our SE mountains to our NW mountains finally tipped with the most recent round of snow and wind. A few of these avalanches propagated entire paths as well as connecting multiple paths at a time. Impressive slides!
Weather: Blustery NW flow, 5″ HST in town. Snow and wind gave way to some clear skies around and just west of town allowing for views into the nearby alpine.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 02/06/2021
Name: Ben Pritchett
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Red Lady Bowl and Coon Basin
Aspect: South East
Elevation: ~12,000′

Avalanches: Two SS-N-R3/D2.5-O avalanches

1x SS-N-R3/D2-O, East below treeline Mt Emmons(Red Lady Glades, repeater in the fishbowl)

Date of Observation: 02/05/2021

Author: Jack Caprio

Location: Crested Butte Backcountry

3 days of abnormally warm temperatures sandwiched between two large loading events. You guessed it, HIGH danger and lots of avalanches. Check out the weekly summary to see a recap of our eventful week.