Boletín de aludes

Southeast Mountains

Crested Butte Avalanche Center
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Peligro de aludes

Sat
Alta montaña
3 · Notable
Límite del bosque
3 · Notable
Bajo el límite
3 · Notable
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Desactualizado: este boletín caducó 4 years ago. Estás viendo condiciones pasadas, no el boletín vigente.

Lo esencial

Avalanche conditions remain dangerous and human-triggered avalanches are likely.  Any steep slope with weak snow beneath Tuesday's storm snow should be treated with caution.  You can remotely trigger avalanches from below or adjacent features.  To reduce your chance of triggering an avalanche avoid travel on or below steep slopes that have weak snow beneath the recent storm.

Problemas de aludes

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alta montaña
    • Límite del bosque
    • Bajo el límite del bosque
    Probabilidad
    Likely
    Tamaño
    1–2

    Tuesday's storm formed slabs 1 to 2 feet thick above a widespread persistent weak layer.  A natural avalanche cycle occurred on Tuesday and observers reported many avalanches large enough to bury and kill a person.  The most dangerous terrain faces west through north through east as these aspects contain the thickest and most continuous weak layer however, some southerly-facing slopes also have the weak layer at upper elevations. 

    Due to thinner, old snow coverage prior to Tuesday's storm, fewer below-treeline slopes and fewer sunny alpine slopes hold old, weak snow in the Southeast Mountains.  This means that avalanche conditions are slightly better than in Northwest Mountains as there are fewer slopes with the slab/weaker layer combination to produce avalanches below-treeline and on sunny, upper-elevation slopes.  Even with this distinction, dangerous avalanche conditions exist in the Southeast Mountains.  

    A natural avalanche on Mount Emmons' easterly-facing terrain.

Avalanche Discussion

The story of the current dangerous avalanche conditions can be summed up quickly.  Early season snowfall in October and early November left a thin, but a continuous blanket of snow across many aspects and elevations.  A prolonged dry spell during November allowed the early season snow to weaken through the faceting process.  Tuesday's storm buried the persistent weak layer with slabs 1 to 2 feet thick and produced a widespread avalanche cycle.  Take a look through the CBAC's observation page (or the media gallery below) to view the natural and human-triggered avalanches from the past two days. Most avalanches occurred on the north half of the compass, but some sunny slopes harbor the weak layer as well.

Due to the well-developed nature of the weak layer, conditions will not improve quickly; observers reported "rampant collapsing" and remotely-triggering an avalanche from 250 feet yesterday.  Do not expect conditions to be any different today.  The simple solution is to avoid avalanche terrain if you find 10 inches or more of recent storm snow resting above older, weak snow.

An Avalanche Watch has been issued in anticipation of very dangerous avalanche conditions developing on Friday.  A intense, and quick-hitting storm will impact the Crested Butte area on Friday.  This storm is expected to push the danger HIGH and cause another natural avalanche cycle.

EVENTS:

  • Avalanche Awareness Night is December 3rd and Beacon Brushup is December 4th.  Details here.

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