Northwest Mountains

Slab avalanches have become unlikely to human trigger in the NW Mountain forecast area. It is recommended that you still remain vigilant and evaluate for potential features of concern, such as any lingering hard slabs at upper elevations or the few slopes that still hold persistent slab avalanche structure.  If you're unsure about your ability to evaluate local avalanche conditions, you can still enjoy riding on low-angle slopes, with soft snow surfaces common on north-facing terrain.

Conditions have started to diverge between our two forecast areas. While a hybrid of conditions can be found in some localized areas. Here's a general summary: In the NW Mountains, a natural avalanche cycle just before Thanksgiving affected about 80% of the terrain facing west, east, and southeast, with slightly less activity on other aspects. In the SE Mountains, although many natural avalanches occurred, the cycle was comparatively less widespread. Slopes that didn't avalanche during this cycle were left with a persistent slab snowpack structure on west-to-north-to-east aspects. As a result, intact slopes with a persistent slab avalanche structure are more common in the SE Mountain forecast area.

Now, let's just talk about those slopes that didn't avalanche during the Thanksgiving cycle. The snowpack depth is much deeper on average in the NW Mountain forecast area than what is typically found in the SE Mountain forecast area. Weak layers in the deeper snowpack have gained strength over the last week of dry weather, and those slopes have a lower likelihood to human trigger. The snowpack structure in the shallower SE Mountains has not gained much strength due to stronger temperature gradients in the snowpack. In some cases, the snowpack is becoming so weak that even the slab is faceting away.

In the end, a persistent slab avalanche is more likely to be triggered in the SE Mountains than in the NW Mountains. However, the travel advice is the same across both forecast areas. Continue to assess the snowpack and terrain for areas that hold an intact persistent slab avalanche structure and consider if it remains possible to still trigger an avalanche in that local area. Once you climb to higher elevations and into the alpine, keep an eye out for old hard slabs formed by previous winds. Those hard slabs should be difficult to trigger unless you find just the right slope. This small hard slab was human-triggered on Wednesday. The slab released after the skier made a heavy jump turn on a steep and unsupported slope. 

With the lower likelihood of triggering a slab avalanche in the NW Mountains, this is a great time to be out skiing and riding. You'll, of course, find softer snow surfaces on the northern half of the compass, and even some of the avalanche bed surfaces are skiing well.

Events: Avalanche Awareness Night is at the Center for the Arts this Saturday. Doors open at 6, show starts at 7. We will have presentations for the first half and live music for the second half of the night. The Beacon Brush Up is then behind the Crested Butte Community School on Sunday from 9 a.m.- 2 p.m.  Details are here.