Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Abajo Area Mountains Issued by Eric Trenbeath for Saturday - February 25, 2017 - 6:58am
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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 announcement

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.

current conditions

Skies are clear, ridge top westerly winds are light, and it's cold out there! 10,000' temperatures are in the single digits and it's minus 2 degrees on Abajo Peak. In my travels yesterday 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.

Winds, temperature and humidity on Abajo Peak.

Snow depth at Camp Jackson.

weather

Today look for mostly sunny skies and old temperatures with a high of around 15 degrees at 10,000'. Southwest ridge top winds will blow in the 10-15 mph range. We may see a few developing clouds and some convective showers as we ride an unstable westerly flow through Sunday. The next system and chance for real snow arrives on Monday.

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.