Details

• Date: 2016/04/19

• Observer: Zach Guy
• Organization: Forecaster, Crested Butte Avalanche Center

Location

• BC Zone: Front Range
• Area Description: Rocky Mountain National Park
• Route Description: Flattop and Notchtop Mtn

Weather

• Weather Description: Broken skies, S-1 at times, moderate westerly winds

Snowpack

• Snowpack Description: 12"-24" of storm snow, upside-down on many above treeline slopes due to wind-drifting and stiffening. Southerly aspects had a 1" thick surface crust. Some typical start zones were scoured away by SE'rly winds from earlier in the storm.

Avalanches

• Avalanche Description: See photos. Skier triggered a 15" thick soft slab from a windloaded ridgeline on a north aspect above treeline. It failed just above the crust interface and gouged down to the crust, running about 1,000 vertical feet. SS-ASc-R2-D1.5-S/I. There was a similar fresh natural that ran on a NE aspect ATL in the Ptarmigan Chutes. There were 4 D1 to D2 debris piles below the south side of Flattop; from sun-initiated loose snow avalanches that ran sometime in the last couple days but not today.

	Date	Location/Path	#	Elev	Asp	Type	Trig	SizeR	SizeD
	2016/04/19  †	Rocky Mountain National Park	1	>TL	N	SS	AS / c	R2	D1.5
Date: 2016/04/19 (Estimated) Observer: Zach Guy Organization: Forecaster, Crested Butte Avalanche Center Landmark: Rocky Mountain National Park Sliding Surface: I - New/Old Interface
	2016/04/19  †	Rocky Mountain National Park	1	>TL	NE	SS	N	R2	D1.5
Date: 2016/04/19 (Estimated) Observer: Zach Guy Organization: Forecaster, Crested Butte Avalanche Center Landmark: Rocky Mountain National Park

Media

Images