Front Range

Avalanche

Anonymous · May 17, 2014 · Front Range

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Weather

Intense morning sun, clouding up by 11am, warm, strong NW winds above treeline.

Snowpack

Below treeline in Herman Gulch: deep snowpack, creek and willows almost completely buried, firm refrozen with a dusting of overnight fresh snow, some powder stashes in the trees. Alpine: good coverage up high except for stripped and mildly wind damaged windward fetches, several inches of wind transported new snow on leeward slopes, heavy, warm, chalky, thin slabs.

Avalanche

20140516 1100 SS AS/r R2D1.5 fresh wind slab at 12,700' ESE aspect above Woods Creek on an E flank of Pettingell Peak. Skier triggered remotely from ~20' above, broke just below a convex roll at about 40 degrees, average crown 2", maximum crown 4", 50' wide, 200' long, ran through rocky area and down to lower angle bowl. Stepped down a few more inches to probable melt-freeze crust and propagated wider in shallow rocky area.