Front Range
AvalancheAnonymous · Feb 4, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
Windy. Extremely windy. Especially in the predawn hours. It calmed a little bit through the morning and starting picking up again as we left around noon. Temps were pretty cold early in the morning, but warmed unexpected quickly with the sunshine.
Avalanche
Partner set off a wet loose D1 at approximately 11:30AM in a steep (caltopo says 40deg), southeast facing, below treeline gully/chute at approximately 9800ft. Not intentional, not caught, no injuries. I skied an adjacent chute first, same aspect and elevation, slightly lower angle, maybe 37deg (caltopo). The snow was surprising warm and wet for a pre-noon February morning. I kicked off a reasonably sized rollerball, but nothing built up momentum/fanned out. Partner skied his chute and upon his first or second turn, the wet sluff picked up some mass and began to fan out. It moved typically slowly for a wet loose and he was easily able to avoid the growing mass of slush. Total length of maybe 100 feet, width of 20 feet at the widest part at the bottom of the fan. Attaching pictures, but they are both bad.