Forecast for the Abajo Area Mountains
Sunday morning, February 26, 2017
The avalanche danger is generally LOW in the Abajo/Blue Mountains. You may find a few isolated wind slabs, or fresh drifts of unstable snow on the leeward sides of ridge crests and terrain features in upper elevation terrain that has a NW-N-E aspect. Continue to practice safe travel techniques by only putting one person at a time on steep, avalanche prone slopes.
Special Announcements
The Abajo/Blue Mountain avalanche advisory will provide detailed information on the weekends. During the week, general information and a danger rating will be posted.
Earlier this month, Colorado experienced a snowbike fatality. This is the newest user group to venture into avalanche terrain, and we have several snowbikes in the area. It's a tragic story, and a complex situation where the victim had an airbag but wasn't wearing a beacon. Read the story in the official report from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Weather and Snow
Skies are mostly clear, ridge top southwesterly winds are light, and it's slightly warmer this morning. Camp Jackson is reporting 13 degrees while it's still barely 2 degrees on Abajo Peak. In my travels on Friday, I was pleasantly surprised to find 2-4" of new snow that blew in on a fast moving wave around 7:30 a.m. The new coat of white definitely improved the look of things, and even improved riding conditions a bit though the underlying snow surface is everywhere evident.
Recent snow has improved conditions a bit and some fun turns can be had.
In spite of the above average snowpack, southerly facing slopes took a hit during early February's warm spell.
Winds, temperature and humidity on Abajo Peak.
Snow depth at Camp Jackson.
Normal Caution
Description
The avalanche danger is generally low in the Abajo Mountains, but low danger doesn't mean no danger. You may still be able to trigger an isolated wind slab in upper elevation, wind exposed terrain where drifting snow has accumulated on the lee side of a ridge crest or terrain feature. Continue to practice safe travel techniques by only putting one person at a time on steep, avalanche prone slopes. Changing weather creates changing avalanche conditions, and backcountry travelers need to be alert to increasing winds, new snow, or a rapid increase in temperature.
Additional Information
The remnants of the weekend storm will exit to the south, leaving mostly sunny skies today. High temperatures at 10,000' will be in the low to mid 20's. West southwest winds will be light this morning, and increase throughout the day. Unsettled weather continues into the new work week with our next Pacific storm moving in for Monday and Tuesday.
General Announcements
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The information in this advisory is from the US Forest Service which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.