November 1-15 Snowpack/Weather Summary
Nick Schley
November kicked off with a non-existent to generally thin snowpack. On Nov. 1 st
southerly aspects at all elevations were void of snow, while some northerly bowls and couloirs above treeline held on to the remnants of an October 12 th storm. This pack was generally discontinuous and consisted of a basal crust capped by 1-2 inches of facets in the Kebler Pass area.
Photo taken 10/31/2014, Looking south to North and Northwest facing slopes in the Anthracites. Photo: Ian Havlick.
A low pressure system made its way into the Elk Mountains on the afternoon of Nov.2 by the morning of the 3 rd
the Schofield snotel site reported over a foot of snow (SWE 1.2”) and Irwin had picked up 8’’ (SWE .9”).
With this snow we received report of our first avalanche accident of the season. Two skiers were caught and carried in a slide while booting packing up a north facing chute on Mount Owen. The soft slab avalanche failed on on older layers and scoured to the ground. It was relatively small in destructive and avalanche path potential. ( classified as SS-AF-R2-D1.5-O/G) It ran approximately 400ft from12,600 ft to 12,200 ft. Both skiers were partially buried and uninjured.
A full report is here: ( http://cbavalanchecenter.org/mount-owen-jenga-chute-avalanche/ )

A google earth image of the slide that caught and partially buried to skiers on Nov.3 on Mt. Owen.
During the next six days high pressure moved into the area. Temperatures of up to 53°F were recorded at 10.700 ft. While open south facing slopes were becoming bare, patches of snow could still be found on shaded southerly aspects. On NW-N-NE-E slopes the snowpack varied in depth between 6-36 inches and had a varied structure. On northerly aspects cool nights had produced an entirely faceted pack, while aspects that received direct sunlight during the day had developed melt-freeze crusts with small facets underlying. As we headed into another storm cycle this snow was certain to produce problematic interfaces. Nov. 9 photos of current snow coverage were widely distributed through social media to aid backcountry travelers in terrain selection and where these persistent weak layers may exist in the weeks to come.
Looking NW up Yule Pass on 2014-11-09. While SE-S-SW slopes held little snow NW-N-NE-E slope at and above treeline possessed up to 2 feet of weak and faceted snow
.
Photo
:
Ian Havlick

The second storm of November made its way into the area on Nov. 12. By the evening of
Nov.13
th
, the town of Crested Butte had received 8’’ of snow while the Schofield Snotel sight had recorded nearly 13’’ (.8” SWE). This significant load created heightened avalanche conditions.
Snowcontinued to fall through November 15 th
, while a cold front produced howling west winds between 30-40mph. A high wind speed of 81mph was recorded at Gothic. By the evening of
Nov. 15 storm totals ranged from 19’’ at Irwin to 27.5’’ at Gothic. We received numerous reports of widespread cracking, collapsing, whoomphing, easy stability test results, intentionally triggered, and remotely triggered avalanches.