Public Observation
Observation Details
Observation Date:
May 1, 2023Submitted:
May 2, 2023Zone or Region:
Boulder/Jughandle AreaActivity:
Skiing/SnowboardingLocation:
Jughandle north face and lower bowl behind Louis LakeTriggered Avalanches
Did you trigger any avalanches?
YesWas it intentional?
NoAvalanche Type:
Wet LooseSize:
Size 2: Could bury, injure, or kill a personElevation:
8250Aspect:
NEComments:
Our agreed turn around point was when our kick track started producing roller balls. It did, about 50' elevation below the summit. In fact, the roller balls propagated into a 6" deep wet loose slide that ran downslope a few hundred feet. We knew the warm conditions would be unstable, but we had hoped to get up and down the mountain early before the worst of it. Luckily we were able to ski the slide bed safely.Photo:
Observed Avalanches
Did you observe any avalanches?
YesAvalanche Type:
Wet LooseSize:
Size 1: Relatively harmless to peopleElevation:
>7000'Aspect:
NEComments:
The weekend had produced a crop of small cornice collapses. We kept our ascent/descent lines a safe distance away from remaining hangfire.Photo:
Signs of Unstable Snow
None reported
Observations
It's still a five mile approach from the Boulder lake road to the upper bowl. The upper bowl approaches an optimum avi angle of 38 degrees. Bt the bowl itself has benign hangfire right now. As does the lower bowl. But I wouldn't go there again with such warm temperatures, or without solid corn snow. My guess is the rest of this week will not be optimum.
Media
