Avalanche Weekly Summary - February 27, 2025

Northern Mountains
In the Northern Mountains, significant snowfall ended on February 21 with the upslope storm, followed by a few additional inches in the northernmost areas through the 25. A day-over-day warming trend began on the 26 as high pressure set in. Over the past week, 86 avalanches have been reported, 40 of which were D2 or larger. Many of these were Persistent Slab avalanches that stepped down to weak snow near the ground rather than just running on the storm interface. Mitigation efforts continue to produce surprising results, with some paths running larger than expected from small explosives. Tragically, a rider died in an avalanche near Berthoud Pass. 

Central Mountains
In the Central Mountains, no significant new snow has fallen since February 16, but the Valentine’s storm snow has settled into a widespread, terrain-spanning slab over one or more faceted weak layers. During the past week, people reported more than 57 large (D2 or larger) Persistent Slab avalanches. In the last few days, both natural and human-triggered slides have occurred, though at a slower pace. A skier was caught and partially buried in Elk Creek near Crested Butte.

Southern Mountains
Little new snow fell last week in the Southern Mountains. The weather of note was the couple of warm-ups. The snowpack has yet to stabilize, with both avalanche activity and accidents continuing. Since February 19th, there have been 16 large (D2 or larger) avalanches, with 12 triggered by people. Tragically, a fatal avalanche occurred near Ophir Pass, highlighting the continued hazard. Additionally, two skiers were caught in avalanches near McMillan Mountain and Yellow Mountain.

Heading Into the Weekend
A significant warm-up heading into the weekend will increase wet avalanche concerns on southerly terrain, starting with loose wet avalanches and potentially leading to wet slab avalanches if the warming trend continues. Additionally, the warm-up will make Persistent Slab avalanches more sensitive to triggers on northerly slopes, potentially keeping our long-running pattern of large avalanches going into the weekend.