Lawinenlagebericht

Northwest Mountains

Crested Butte Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Sun
Hochgebirge
1 · Gering
Waldgrenze
1 · Gering
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

The green flag is flying for what will be a good day to be riding in avalanche terrain. However, if you travel carelessly in steep terrain, you can still have a bad day. Normal caution with your eyes open and scanning the terrain will still be required to manage a couple of small avalanche problems. There are a few areas where a small wind slab could be human-triggered, and as temperatures rise this afternoon, loose wet avalanches are another small hazard to keep an eye out for.  

 

 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Unlikely
    Größe
    1–1.5

    Earlier this week, a strong NW wind event created a patchwork of small wind slabs. This avalanche problem is healing, becoming more isolated and more difficult to human trigger. If you are riding in steep terrain at near and above treeline elevations, this would be the main problem that could catch you off guard and knock you off your feet. This avalanche problem is small, but it can still push you off a cliff, into a tree, or pile deeply in a terrain trap. Forecasters yesterday noted that these lingering slabs were located lower on the slope than normal and in concave terrain features. 

    A small skier triggered wind slab on the south side of Ruby Peak. 2/10

Avalanche Discussion

Cloud cover is forecasted to increase today earlier than previously expected. Those clouds may limit high temperatures by a few degrees. Any loose wet avalanche activity that develops from the periods of sun and above-freezing temperatures is expected to be small. There are lots of wind-affected snow surfaces out there, and that will also help keep loose wet avalanche activity in check. Roller balls are an early warning sign that slopes are heating up, and if you find a couple inches of thick warm snow under your feet, then small loose wet avalanches will have become possible to trigger. 

There are some big differences between our two forecast areas. In the NW Mountain forecast area, this is a great weekend to be traveling in avalanche terrain. Just do your homework and set your sights on a fun objective. Today's potential cloud cover is a little bit of a bummer for the alpine, but the clouds look to clear on Sunday so that should be another great opportunity. In the SE Mountain forecast area, we are in a bit of a stalemate, or more of an entrenched mindset that isn't allowing the same opportunity to step into more aggressive terrain. Last week we observed a couple of natural persistent slab avalanches and one notable human-triggered persistent slab avalanche. These all occurred on heavily wind-loaded slopes. In wind-sheltered terrain, we have observed that the persistent slab structure is faceting away and the problem has become isolated in that terrain. That is the primary reason that we have LOW avalanche danger for below treeline elevations in the SE Mountains.

 Little change is expected to occur in the avalanche conditions over the weekend. So we keep saying, do your homework and enjoy the backcountry this weekend. More snow is back in the forecast for next week. 

 

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