Sawatch

Avalanche

Ethan Greene ยท Nov 28, 2014

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Weather

Warm. 50F on CO82 at 1200, 32F at 1500. Calm winds Blw TL, 5-15 W and SW Nr TL. PC skies.

Snowpack

Surface hoar in the bottom of the drainage. New snow layer remained dry in shaded areas Blw TL. Sun-exposed surfaces became damp and formed a crust during the day (E -> S aspects). Melting snow on tree branches is affecting the snow surface and was freezing towards the end of the day. HS 40-70 cm Blw TL.

Avalanche

I examined an avalanche in the Mountain Boy/Graham Gulch area. It was a natural avalanche on an E and SE aspect. It started as a Wind Slab avalanche, but triggered a Persistent Slab avalanche 100' below the ridgeline. It released near the ground, but there weren't any areas where I could look at the snow that produced the slide. This avalanche was reported in obs_id=28274. </br> I also observed 3 natural avalanches in the Negro Gulch drainage. They were triggered by rapid wind load, but one broke into old snow layers producing a crown-face near 10' deep. This was on a NE aspect at about 12,300' (Abv TL). An other was on an E aspect near 12,200' (Abv TL). The last was on an E aspect near a rocky point (Abv TL) and 2-3'x100x?.