Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Wind Loading
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Several recent avalanches were noted in Beaver Creek on an east aspect. Older avalanches, probably occurring on 1/30 or 1/31, could be seen in upper Beaver Basin on a NE aspect. </p>
This close up of a north aspect just west of Mann's Peak shows wind textures and a very cold, dry, and unpredictable snowpack that is present on high-elevation northerly aspects. It looks like W or NW winds have built a slab in this steep terrain.
Upper Bear Creek, North aspect.
Southerly aspects in the Abajos.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Stiff slabs overly weak faceted snow in the alpine. At lower elevations, the snowpack has warmed up a bit and gaining strength.</p> <p>Hard to tell exactly how old the pillows and drifts might be, but judging by their shape some may be fairly recent. </p>
Flying over both the La Sals and the Abajo Range today, I got to have a look at about 3/4 of the starting zones throughout both ranges. Conditions are quite variable. Winds have stripped ridges and west aspects appeared to have less snow overall than easterly aspects. Many southerly aspects are fairly snow-free. The winds have formed many different patterns in the alpine and there are definitely stiff-looking, cross-loaded windslabs plastered in the many gullies or concave zones from W-NW-N-NE-E-SE. Some areas look very wintery with wind-pressed, hanging slabs and intricate fluting in steep terrain.
Snow starting on 2/3/2021 looks to have been pressed around by moderate-strong NW winds.