View Report | Colorado Avalanche Information Center

Lat: 38.974, Lon: -107.04

Backcountry Area: Gunnison

Author: Zach Guy

Organization: Crested Butte Avalanche Center

Report Information

CAIC Notes

Original CBAC ob: https://cbavalanchecenter.org/view-observations/#/view/observations/2b16453c-3502-4674-a999-3a5c4061a644

Area Description

Washington Gulch

Route Description

Snowmobiled on low angle terrain up to 403 trailhead, plus a quick bino tour on CBMR. The focus of today's fieldwork was to document recent naturals with good visibility this morning.

Avalanches

Saw an avalanche

Around twenty arge to very large natural avalanches ran in the past few days (since we had good visibility on Sunday 2/16) from wind drifting. Most of these appeared to be persistent slabs breaking on the January dryspell layer or deeper. A few looked to be shallower wind slabs. There's also lingering evidence of widespread natural activity during the big storm; I'm only documenting a handful of the more obvious or larger avalanches here.

Date	#	Elev	Asp	Type	Trig	SizeD	Problem Type
02/18/2025	1	>TL	SE	HS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,900 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19. Looks like a relatively low slope angle.
02/18/2025	1	>TL	E	HS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,000 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19
02/18/2025	1	>TL	E		N	D2.5	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,600 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments A mess on East Face. Some of this looks new since we saw this slope on 2/16.
02/17/2025	1	>TL	SE		N	D3	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/17/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,200 ft Avalanche Comments "The [Gothic north cirque slide path] ran either yesterday afternoon or last night. It's the one where the debris would hit the Judd Falls trailhead outhouse, though it only barely reached the East River"
02/18/2025	1	>TL	NE		N	D2.5	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,600 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments A mess on East Face. Some of this looks new since we saw this slope on 2/16.
02/17/2025	1	<TL	NE	SS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/17/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 10,400 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19. Couldn't see runout, narrow slab but probably a 1.5 or 2 given the long terrain.
02/14/2025	2	TL	SW	SS	N	D2	Storm Slab
Date and Time 02/14/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,800 ft Avalanche Comments Debris on west side of Gothic. likely ran 2/14 or 2/15. Crowns no longer visible, start zones estimated.
02/14/2025	2	<TL	NE	SS	N	D1.5	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/14/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 9,600 ft
02/18/2025	2	<TL	E		U	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 10,600 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Look fresh, likely ran late 2/18 or early 2/19. Snowmobile tracks in the area, could be remote triggered or natural.
02/14/2025	2	>TL	W	SS	N	D2
Date and Time 02/14/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,000 ft Avalanche Comments Debris piles below west side of Gothic. Either storm slabs or persistent slabs that likely ran 2/14 or 2/15. Crowns no longer visible, start zones estimated.
02/18/2025	1	>TL	N	HS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,000 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments The uppermost slide above the older crown appears to be new since Eric's photo on 2/17: https://cbavalanchecenter.org/view-observations/#/view/avalanches/5b0bbb83-fbad-4789-baad-e6bd9a97aa0a
02/19/2025	1	TL	NE		N/y	D2.5	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/19/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,400 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments New since Eric viewed this slope on 2/17. Two adjacent slides, probably sympathetic, likely triggered by cornice fall. Lookers right coded here
02/17/2025	1	>TL	E		N	D2.5	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/17/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,700 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19. Probably a persistent slab, though I didn't have a great view of it.
02/17/2025	2	<TL	N	SS	N	D1	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/17/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 10,900 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Likely ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19.
02/19/2025	2	>TL	W	HS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/19/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,000 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Look fresh, likely ran late 2/18 or early 2/19
02/19/2025	1	>TL	NW	HS	N	D1.5	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/19/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,900 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Look fresh, likely ran late 2/18 or early 2/19. Small lookers left slide (in the shade) coded here
02/17/2025	1	>TL	E	SS	N	D2	Wind Slab
Date and Time 02/17/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,200 ft Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19. Slab thickness suggests wind slab. Could be persistent slab.
02/19/2025	1	TL	E		N	D3	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/19/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,400 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments New since Eric viewed this slope on 2/17. Two adjacent slides, probably sympathetic, likely triggered by cornice fall. Lookers left coded here
02/14/2025	1	<TL	E	SS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/14/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,000 ft
02/14/2025	2	TL	W	SS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/14/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,400 ft Avalanche Comments Crowns on northwest side of Gothic. likely ran 2/14 or 2/15. Probably persistent slabs
02/19/2025	1	TL	E	HS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/19/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,600 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19. Looks very recent.
02/18/2025	1	>TL	NE	HS	N	D2.5	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,000 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 p.m. and 2/19 a.m.
02/19/2025	1	>TL	NE	HS	N	D3	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/19/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,000 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran 2/18 or early 2/19. I bino'd this slope on 2/17 and it wasn't there. Probably cornice fall triggered.
02/18/2025	1	TL	NE	HS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,800 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19.
02/14/2025	2	<TL	NE	SS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/14/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 10,500 ft
02/14/2025	2	TL	NE	SS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/14/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,200 ft
02/18/2025	1	>TL	E	HS	N	D2.5	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 12,700 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Looks like a wind slab stepped down to a persistent slab. Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19.
02/18/2025	1	>TL	E	HS	N	D2	Persistent Slab
Date and Time 02/18/2025 - 5:00am (estimated) Location 38.974 -107.04 Start Zone Elevation 11,900 ft Sliding Surface O Avalanche Comments Ran sometime between 2/16 and 2/19

Snowpack

Cracking: None

Collapsing: None

The snowpack is quiet here in contrast to what I observed yesterday in West Brush Creek. On low-angle slopes, the persistent slab appears stubborn, evidenced by no signs of instability and un-alarming test results on one flat test pit. We know the snowpack structure is shallower and weaker on the many repeat offenders, and I didn't seek feedback from those areas. The recent naturals on Schuylkill Ridge, Redwell, Baldy, and Purple suggest the snowpack is still unstable in some areas. .

Conflicting feedback: Numerous large natural persistent slabs ran in both the shallow zone and deep zone over the past 48 hours, but no signs of instability under sled.

Weather

Clear all morning, thin overcast by early afternoon. A few periods of light drifting up high. cloud cover: clear; wind loading: previous; snow avail for transport: moderate amounts

Field Report

Report Information

Avalanches

Snowpack

Weather

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