Grand Mesa
AvalancheColin Mitchell ยท Dec 10, 2016
Weather
Cloudy and warm with a moderate southwest wind. Flurries began as I traversed the pass.
Snowpack
Thin. Little snow exists on the southerly aspects that form the main bowl of the headwall. The schnauzer and pipeline face are holding around 6" of fairly well consolidated snow. Even in these shadier areas, coverage is still patchy, with a lot of vegetation and rock showing through. The north side of the pass was holding more snow, and coverage was largely continuous. HS was around 8" here, and the snowpack had a fairly stout melt-freeze crust with some rounding facets below that. Other than a small chance of a rogue sluff or two coming out of the Schnauzer, all of the paths are below threshold and won't pose a threat to the highway with the current storm.
Avalanche
None observed or reported