The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued avalanche warnings Monday morning for the Aspen area and most of the northern and central Colorado mountains.
After Sunday’s snowstorm dropped a foot of new snow in some areas, the CAIC said travel is not recommended in avalanche-prone areas, even below treeline, and added that slides could happen on their own.
“We are on the cusp of a dangerous avalanche cycle. Naturals avalanches are likely today, and where avalanches don’t release naturally, you can easily trigger one,” forecaster Brian Lazar wrote in the Monday morning update. “Avalanches in the storm snow could break one to four feet thick. The thickest, stiffest, and most dangerous slabs are on north and east-facing slopes due to loading from strong southwest winds.”
The warning includes the Gunnison, Grand Mesa, Steamboat and Flat Tops areas.
In addition to the 8 inches at most of the Aspen ski resorts in the past 24 hours, Lazar reported snow totals were 12 to 15 inches near Marble, 13 inches by Gothic, at least a foot near Irwin and 12 inches on McClure Pass and Grand Mesa.
“This puts us right around an inch of snow-water equivalent, with the deepest areas (near Schofield SNOTEL site) approaching 1.5 inches,” Lazar said. “That a pretty good load in the less than 48 hours for our weak and fragile snowpack.”
Recommended Stories For You
A backcountry skier was killed in a slide Saturday on Red Mountain Pass in the San Juan Mountains. He was traveling in a group and four others survived.
According to the CAIC preliminary report issued Monday morning, the group was part of an avalanche safety course and two slides occurred.