Details

• Date: 2017/11/18

• Observer: Tim Noble
• Organization: Public

Location

• BC Zone: Front Range
• Area Description: NE facing slope at treeline (11,600ft) in the Jones Pass zone, ranging from 25-32 degrees in steepness.

Weather

• Weather Description: Jones Pass, NE aspect, 11600 ft elevation. Clear skies, cold temps (~22 deg Fahrenheit), windy, with wind speeds around 20 mph+, snow deposition/loading by wind observed.

Snowpack

• Snowpack Description: Jones Pass, NE aspect, 11600 ft elevation. Snowpack was about 80 cm deep on average. 3 separate weak layers were noted: the first was near or at the ground, and consisted of depth hoar with a thin layer of facets on top of the layer. The second was at about 40 cm deep and consisted of a very thin layer of facets. Third was at about 20 cm deep and also consisted of a very thin layer of facets. A column test failed at a value of CT12 Q2, at the second weak layer identified. Whumphing and cracking observed on low angle terrain.

Avalanches

• Avalanche Description: Jones Pass, NE aspect, 11600 ft elevation. A small avalanche was remotely triggered from 60 meters away. The slope angle at the crown was 32 degrees, while the slope angle where the skier remotely triggered the avalanche from was 28 degrees. The avalanche failed on a thin weak layer of facets 10cm from the ground, resulting in a 70 cm crown, and propagated about 10 meters across and ran about 30 meters. It was a small pocket, but on that low of a slope angle, and remotely triggered from so far away, if it had occurred in bigger or slightly steeper terrain it could have run much larger.

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