Southeast Mountains

Two recent avalanches were observed yesterday, a shallow surface slab on Mount Emmons, and a deep failing avalanche on Timbered Hill, both on alpine southeast slopes.  The most dangerous slopes will be those at upper elevations with recent or active wind-loading.  Avalanches starting in drifted locations could be hard to survive.  Below treeline slopes possess cohesive slabs resting above well-developed weak layers that are capable of dangerous avalanches.  Look for warning signs like cracking or collapsing to help clue you into sensitive avalanche conditions below treeline, but do not necessarily expect to be warned.  Continue to think about the consequences of triggering an avalanche by steering clear of slopes with rocks, trees, or gullies in runouts.

Today's weather, namely westerly winds strong enough to transport snow and a few additional inches of snowfall, will maintain the increased concern on drifted features at upper elevations.  Two recent observed avalanches from yesterday help to confirm this.  Take a look at this observation for photos of a fresh Wind Slab in Red Lady Bowl and a deep failing avalanche out the Brush Creek drainage on Timbered Hill.  Both ran on drifted southeasterly terrain, but the Wind Slab was not quite deep enough to bury a person, whereas the Timbered Hill avalanche failed deeply and certainly would bury, injure or kill you.  It is a bit of a guessing game as to which drifted slopes will fail in recently formed surface slabs and which can fail deeply producing a hard-to-survive avalanche.  Over the past couple of days, it appears as the deeper failing avalanches are coming from areas in the Southeast Mountains where the snowpack, in general, is shallower, but I would not rule out this possibility in the Northwest Mountains.  With more loading from wind and snowfall today, it would be prudent to give a wide margin to cover the uncertainty for drifted slopes. 

Below treeline slopes in both the Southeast and Northwest Mountains have three or more days without significant loading.  For slopes with a deeper snowpack, generally more than 150cm, it has become harder to trigger avalanches but certainly not impossible.  Below treeline slopes with a deeper snowpack are more commonly found in the Northwest Mountains.  For below treeline slopes with a deeper snowpack, you may need to find a trigger point on a slope where the slab thins near rock outcrops or thinly buried bushes or rocks to initiate failure.  Slopes below treeline with shallower snow depths say closer to 130cm or less, it will be easier for you to produce failure and impact the weak layers below.  Shallower slopes are more commonly found in the Southeast Mountains, but also exist in the Northwest Mountains.  You can take a look at this observation illustrating a very poor-looking structure with multiple collapses (a sign of instability) in a shallower snowpack below treeline.

The mountains around Crested Butte are just coming out of a long period of snowpack growth with significant snowfall and multiple avalanche cycles at the end of January and the first few weeks of February.  Overall stability has begun to improve, but we are not out of the woods by any means.  This winter's avalanche conditions have proven tragic across the mountain west, throughout Colorado, and sadly right here in Crested Butte.  If your 'jonesing' for steeper and more consequential terrain but have lingering doubts about a given slope, the simplest and safest solution is to give it more time and wait for safer conditions later this spring.