Gunnison

Snowpack

Josh Hirshberg · Dec 28, 2012 · Gunnison

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Weather

Cold temps. Few clouds in AM becoming broken thin clouds by PM. Valley fog. Sundogs most the day. Winds were light to moderate, picking up in the PM. Light wind loading occurring even in valley bottom. At ridgetop consistently moderate NW winds w/ moderate windloading occurring.

Snowpack

Average HS of 100cm. Observed widespread persistent slab structure w/ 15-20cm of facets on the ground. Top 10cm of recent storm snow seemed less cohesive than obs from Thursday. Cornices building at ridgetop thru the day. Looked for failures on 12/23 buried facets, but nothing notable. A couple localized collapses near trees. One big collapse just below ridgtop. Minimal sluffing w/ ski cut on roll >35°. Got the best look at Schuylkill Ridge in over a week. The terrain is covered with old crowns 5-10 days old.