CAIC

Details

BC Zone: Front Range
Area Description: Cameron Pass, Seven Utes Mountain
Route Description: Skinned south from the old Seven Utes Lodge into the valley between Braddock Peak/Mt. Mahler and Seven Utes Mountain. Summited Seven Utes from the saddle leading over from Mahler. Descent was off the NW ridge of Seven Utes. We then angled east skiing through the debris from the recent avalanche. We skied the North Ridge line down to the snowmobile track that runs W-E along Seven Utes north side, eventually meeting up with our original path back to the parking area.

Weather Description: Sky was overcast and broken most of the day with sunshine present later in the day. Temperatures ranged from 17-28F throughout the day. Wind was calm to light. No precipitation.

Snowpack Description: Recent storm snow appears to still be settling with no major collapsing or cracking observed. Much more of a "slow compression" type of feeling when skinning. The entire Seven Utes Zone contained surface hoar from 9400' to the summit. Did not measure the size but it was present all over the place, especially in those clear areas, but also in the glades and trees too.

Avalanche Description: Observed the recent avalanche reported on PowderBuzz.com earlier in the week. This avalanche was triggered approximately between Jan 7-10. Exact date is unknown. I have included a picture illustrating the approximate locations of the crowns on both the N and E facing aspects. It is unknown if these were two separate avalanches, but it is also possible that the propagation ran across the N. Ridge line. It appears that the trigger was a large cornice fall.

Date

Location/Path

Elev

Asp

Type

Trig

SizeR

SizeD

2017/01/09 ^†

Cameron Pass

>TL

2017/01/09 ^†

Cameron Pass

>TL