Details

• Date: 2013/01/12

• Observer: Todd Vander Wall

Location

• BC Zone: Front Range
• Area Description: Berthoud Pass, north face of general Mt Russell area, specifically "Cape Canaveral" area.
• Route Description: Skied the Meadows down to Cape Canaveral area, across the service road, down the 90s to the parking lot.

Weather

• Ridgeline Wind Speed: Calm
• Wind Loading: Previous
• Temperature: -10 F
• Sky Cover: Clear
• Weather Description: Very cold, calm winds, clear skies. Standard high pressure cold front after the storm.

Snowpack

• Snowpack Description: VARIABLE. Some good coverage, some very thin both from lack of accumulation and from wind scoured. Troughs filled in with soft windblown snow. ~3" of freshly deposited snow on top of a very strong ~3" crust. Fairly consolidated 8-10" under crust to ground. Snow pack at site of incident: 12-16" of pure granular sugar snow with zero consolidation, overtop of bare ground. Only enough strength to hold itself up.

Avalanches

	Date	Location/Path	#	Elev	Asp	Type	Trig	SizeR	SizeD
	2013/01/12	Berthoud Pass west side	1	<TL	NE	L	AS	R1	D1
Date: 2013/01/12 Time: 10:30 AM Observer: Todd Vander Wall Area Description: Lower half of Cape Canaveral, ~25' above service road. See lat/long @ 'Location' in previous comments. Landmark: Berthoud Pass west side Average Slope Angle: 40 ° Maximum Slope Angle: 55 ° Elevation: 11350 ft Sliding Surface: G - At Ground/Ice/Firm Weak Layer Grain Type: Rounded Grains Average Crown: 12 in Maximum Crown: 16 in Average Width: 6 ft Maximum Width: 7 ft Average Vertical: 20 ft Maximum Vertical: 25 ft Comments: Skied the upper half of a clearing in the Cape Canaveral area. Found good knee deep+ powder. Paused ~25' vert. above the service road, on top of a 40*+ slope. Made one turn at crown of slope when the snow under my skis let loose. Pure granular snow down to ground failed and I side-slipped/hip slid down the remaining ~20' until I came to rest on the service road. All the snow in a ski width under me failed until I ran out of vertical/steep slope. Buried up to my upper thigh/waist. Self extracted. No injuries; however if I had tumbled head first instead I could have sustained minor bumps/ bruises /contusions.

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