Grand Mesa
AvalancheBrandon Levy ยท Feb 7, 2023
Weather
Fairly warm and calm with sunshine which is starting to feel more and more intense as we approach Valentines Day especially out in the desert by the Utah border.
Snowpack
The early February respite with a week without snowfall and relativley warm days and cold nights on Douglas has helped the south-facing paths start to thaw out and "melt back." The rimed snow plastered on the trees has fallen off or melted on the slopes above the road that face south. The large surface hoar (1-2cm) that was buried on the Douglas Pass on the 24th of January is still present and was down about 20cms where I looked today. The layer while noticably less resistent in hand hardness is hard to detect and identify as buried surface hoar. While buried it still remains in the top 30cms of the snowpack and has seen meltwater. If I didn't see it on the surface on January 22 I wouldn't of been able to identify the layer. Extended column tests produced non-propagating results (ECTN10 down 17cms on SH 10mm). Overall the volume loss in the south-facing paths is noticable and they will likley continue to quietly melt barring a large storm or nuclear warm-up.
Avalanche
I observed some very small loose wet avalanches around rocks and cliffs above SH139--all well above the road and likely over the recent weekend (2/4 and 2/5)