Lawinenlagebericht

Northwest Mountains

Crested Butte Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Wed
Hochgebirge
1 · Gering
Waldgrenze
1 · Gering
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

The snowpack is generally stable, and this is a great time to get out and enjoy the backcountry. An avalanche that would break deeply into the snowpack is unlikely. Continue to use safe travel protocols when in avalanche terrain, such as exposing only one person on the slope at a time and regrouping in areas protected from an unexpected large to very large avalanche. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Unlikely
    Größe
    2–3

    Deep slabs are a very low likelihood but high consequence concern on the northern half of the compass, where faceted weak layers still lurk near the ground.   You are most likely to impact these layers and trigger a deadly avalanche where slabs are thinner.  To reduce your risk,  choose terrain with a deep, uniform snowpack.  Be cautious of unsupported, rocky terrain or alpine terrain where winds have created variable snow depths. 

    One of the few avalanches triggered since the New Year breaking near the ground.  This was an explosive triggered hard slab on a west aspect at Irwin, where slab depths are variable due to seasonal wind patterns.  

Avalanche Discussion

Over the last 3 weeks, we have seen a crazy transition as avalanche conditions have gone from one end of the spectrum, all the way to the other. At the end of 2021, we were in a historic avalanche cycle and reached an EXTREME avalanche danger rating on December 31st. Now in January, we've progressed all the way down to a LOW avalanche danger rating with a generally stable snowpack.

It has been over two weeks since our last natural avalanche on basal weak layers; all of the natural activity within our forecast area since New Year's Day has been small and shallow. The last human-triggered avalanche breaking on deep weak layers in our forecast area was December 25th and obvious signs of instability for basal weak layers have been absent all month. Explosive testing produced a few large results earlier this month but no avalanche activity since 1/10. This unusually quiet snowpack is the result of the tremendous amount of snow that fell in December, which blessed us with a deep snowpack that makes it difficult to impact early season weak layers near the ground.  The lack of snowfall in January has given the snowpack time to adjust and has further reduced the threat of a weak layer failure if you do manage to impact one from a shallow spot. Long story short, apart from shallow sluffs, it is very difficult to trigger an avalanche right now BUT any resulting avalanche will be large enough to bury you. 

No notable changes are expected over the coming days and the majority of the snowpack will continue its trend of getting stronger and more trustworthy. New weak layers are forming on the surface of the current snowpack. Once we see the arrival of new snow the avalanche forecast will transition to the development of new avalanche problems. If we don't see another major loading event the current avalanche problems may even be moved off the problem list as we turn our primary focus to the new future avalanche problems. 

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