Sangre de Cristo
AvalancheScott Toepfer · Feb 18, 2017 · Sangre de Cristo
Weather
34F at 5 AM at 8,700ft. Winds NTL 5 to 15 from the south, at 13,500' 10-20 Gusts 30's from south. Clouds increased at times to Ping-pong ball/milk bottle to just partly cloudy and back and forth for most of the day above treeline. Signs of significant wind, recently, primarily, from the east, even below treeline.
Snowpack
In general it looks like the winds have really damaged snow cover. Recent upslope event that brought 1.6" Hw to the range must have had intense east winds, as it would be hard to find that new snow anywhere. I would say 10 to 12" of new snow with the normal Sangre de Cristo strong winds would easily take the zone to L2, 10 to 18" for L3.
Avalanche
4 recent WLNR2D1 West aspect at 13,000 feet on north ridge of Un-named point 13,123'/N ridge of Thirsty Pk, 800 to 1,100 vertical. One WSNR2D1 N aspect at 9,800 feet, ran about 100 feet. Dates estimated, the 4 WLN's were last 36-48 hours