The Crested Butte, Colorado area experienced at least 9 avalanches over the weekend. Â One of them was on Mt. Owen and the crown of the avalanche there was 6-15 feet deep making it an extremely large & powerful avalanche.
Moral of the story here: Â The Crested Butte area of Colorado is very unstable right now. Â Be very conservative out there.
East aspect above treeline. Â Estimated failure 1/11/14. Â 2-3′ windslab (faintly visible in picture), stepped down to persistent slab. Estimated crown depth of 6 to 15 feet deep. Â HS-N-R3-D3.5-O
1/11/14 Large persistent slab avalanche at Irwin
SE aspect above treeline. Â Triggered 1/11/14 with a 2 lb. hand charge. Â Average crown height 4-5 ft deep, 1500 ft wide. Â Failed on facets above the Dec 31st crust. Â SS-AE-R3-D2.5-O
Note skiers under the uppermost crown for scale
View of crown from rock that slide was initiated near. Â Notice how the slab tapers to only a few inches near the rocky shallow point. Â Once initated, the slab propagated widely on the melt-freeze crust/facet combo. Â Width was estimated to be around 1500ft.
Crown that propagated as slide ran below cliffband.
1/11/14 Slab avalanche on Mineral Point
SE aspect above treeline. Â SS-N-R2-D2-U. Â Estimated failure 1/11
1/11/14 Skier triggered soft slabs in Happy Chutes
NE aspect below treeline. Â SS-AS-R2-D1.5-U
1/11/14 Natural slab avalanche on Mt. Axtell
NE aspect above treeline. Â SS-N-R2-D2.5-U
1/11/14 Windslab avalanches on Ruby Mountain
East aspect above treeline. Windslabs ~3ft deep. Estimated failures 1/10/14 or 1/11/14. Â SS-N-R1-D2-U
1/11/14 Slab avalanches on Mt. Emmons
East aspect below treeline. Â Estimated failure 1/10/14 or 1/11/14. Â SS-N-R3-D2-U.
1/10/14 Natural soft slab on Kebler Pass
E/SE aspect below treeline. Â SS-N-R2-D2-U
1/10/14 Skier triggered wind slabs on Irwin Tenure
6 slides larger than D1’s skier triggered at Irwin on West aspects near treeline. 14-24″ deep. Â SS-ASc-R2-D1.5/2-I
Avalanche
