19-20

Observed a sizable deep slab in the Divide basin which appeared to have run within the last few days. The crown extended from the southern end of the basin (northeast facing) through the summit run off Divide (southeast facing)--maybe around a mile. Slab height varied, with the upper end pushing 10 feet and the lower closer to a foot or two. On Divide, the crown approached the summit and debris had run across the flat to the mature trees. Looked like it may have been cornice triggered at the southern end on thinner cover in rocky terrain.

We encountered a natural avalanche that appears to have been triggered by a cornice drop. There seemed to be very little fresh snow on the slide surface so we suspect it occurred recently (Feb 14?). The slide occurred on the west side (east facing side) of Bear Basin (pinpoint on the map below). The avalanche was probably 200 feet wide at the top so it clearly propagate across the slope. Crown was 2 to 5 feet tall. We did not hike in there to investigate more carefully. There is a fair amount of trees on this part of the ridge.

Skied the NE shoulder of Divide Peak. Spotted a 1/4 to 1/2 mile long crown spotted along the NE face of Peak 10,024, between Divide Peak and Hyalite Peak. We could not directly determine the crown height, but it was highly visible from our location ~1 mile away. Photo: Tom Kalakay

We rode into Lionhead and found good stability. A sledder highmarked up the hill and then came down right next to us, confirming our results. Wind-loading from yesterday is still a concern, and so are the facets near the ground, although less so than a couple weeks ago. Photo: GNFAC

Surface Hoar in Taylor Fork on 2/13/2020.

Cornice fall triggered a soft slab avalanche in the Spanish Peaks on the afternoon of 2/13/2020.

From email: "100 feet wide, slid the new snow layer maybe 2-3 feet deep, made a pretty good runnel, and went close to full path , so it must have entrained a decent amount of snow to travel that far .."

Photo: R. Hollow