Grand Mesa
AvalancheColin Mitchell ยท Mar 28, 2016
Weather
Overcast and quite breezy. A well-consolidated, spring snowpack with thick crusts on the surface shut down any wind-loading today.
Snowpack
About a foot of very well-consolidated spring snow exists in the paths on the north side of the pass. A few D1 loose snow slides in steep, east-facing terrain indicated that some hazard from loose snow slides still exists. Snowpack was P hard moist melt forms throughout, with a 15-20 cm thick P+ hard crust on the surface. Punchy spring snowpack with boot pen varying between 0 and 30 cms. The steep,south-facing paths that produce the vast majority of avalanches that affect the highway were bare ground (sandstone).
Avalanche
A couple of small D1 avalanches were observed on steep, E facing terrain near the pass.