A day after the Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued a special avalanche advisory, CAIC forecasters have upgraded the avalanche risk rating from considerable to high for much of the state’s mountainous terrain and issued avalanche warnings for two areas.
Avalanche warnings are in effect for the Park Range, north and east of Steamboat Springs from the Wyoming border to the Kremmling area, and the Ruby, Anthracite, and Ragged mountains west of Crested Butte and Marble.
“Very dangerous avalanche conditions exist,” CAIC said of those areas. “You can easily trigger avalanches large enough to bury you, and you can expect many of these avalanches to release naturally. Very dangerous avalanche conditions will continue through the end of the day Monday. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended.”
Other areas of the northern and central mountains are rated at high avalanche risk, level four on CAIC’s one to five scale, and they could reach the tipping point for avalanche warnings.
“Snow totals are close to four feet in the Park Range, two feet in the Gore Range and Flat Tops, and close to 20 inches for the rest of Summit County and the Front Range Mountains,” the CAIC said Friday. “On Friday we get a lull in snowfall, but westerly winds crank up to 60 miles per hour for most of the day. This wind will drift stiff slabs of snow well down below ridgelines over weak layers. Avalanche conditions will be very dangerous through the end of the day Monday at the earliest.”
In its summary for the central mountains, CAIC said fierce winds Friday and Saturday will create conditions “ripe for large, widespread avalanches.”
The mountains west of Boulder, Denver and in Summit County are rated “considerable,” level three on the ratings scale, but they remain under a special avalanche advisory. The same goes for the mountains from the Telluride area south to Durango.
