Avalanches on Red and Granite

I hope everyone is okay and SAR completes their mission with a happy ending.
I am VERY surprised that anyone went out today, especially a group of 13.

Friday morning at Alpy had frozen rain crust all the way up to the top of ch 1.
Whatever fell after Friday was just the peanut butter on top of that jelly.

I hope the media is able to push that knowledge is power, and venturing out in the BC is not always the best option.
Of course, there are always safe places to travel on a day like today. Commonwealth Basin and Granite Mountain are not one of them.

Could not agree with you more. The idea of going to Granite today for anything other than a forest-to-ridge-and-back walk scares the hell out of me. I was in the Crystal area yesterday and the conditions sounded similar: cold, smooth crust - with a lot of new, cold snow being rapidly deposited with wind.

Sure would be nice if we could get a week of mild weather, cloudy skies and no precip. I speculate that the fear of impending rain or high temps is pushing people to make hasty decisions.

Anyone see the cracks under Armstrong on Debbie's gold today? Right then that was the warning for me as its mellow too. Lots of cracks everywhere but of course the powder was superb. Had a feeling about today early on, glad I stayed inbounds. I disagree about the commonwealth, at least big tree part. By red mtn is a different story. Hope no further incidents.

Oh yes, those were quite dramatic!

Granite is such a perennial repeater of accidents that we might consider placing a large and unmistakable sign at the trailhead year-round.

"Warning. Granite Mountain has been responsible for more than XXX avalanche accidents and more than XXX avalanche fatalities. The summer trail climbs an avalanche gully that receives snow from unstable slopes above many times a year. In springtime, sunshine may warm otherwise stable snow into sloppy wet slides.

Trails less-exposed to avalanche hazard are available at Exits 45, 47, 52, 53, 54, 61, and 62. Plowed Sno-parks are available at Exits 54, 61, and 62.

For a current avalanche advisory and mountain weather forecast, visit nwac.us "

Such a sign would be useful in the winter, and summer hikers would take pictures of themselves with it, spreading the word.

I have access to tooling that could create such a sign, if the FS were okay with installing it.


The main path of Granite is a known source of avalanche accidents. It would require little effort to add a little last-ditch education for those who simply don't know.

That's a great idea Charlie.  I've passed it on to the CBSP folks who, along with SPART and USFS, have put up the "are you beeping" signage at the pass.

So sorry for the families and friends.  Strong work by the rescuers.