Gunnison

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett and Eric Murrow · Jan 5, 2024 · Gunnison

Weather

Mostly cloudy in the morning becoming overcast in the afternoon. Light afternoon snowfall added up to around 2" new by mid-afternoon. No wind.

Snowpack

The snowpack on the north half of the compass is very weak (and well-documented at this point). We could easy to trigger loose avalanches near and below treeline on intact slopes and old bed surfaces (as did other parties in the area). As new snow accumulates in the coming week, most avalanches will fail at the current snow surface and gouge into the upper snowpack. Stout melt/freeze crusts cap the snowpack on southerly slopes near and below treeline. In southerly start zones, we found these crusts are around 2 inches thick. In above treeline terrain, the long dryspell, wind, and sun have damaged and hardened many slopes. Here too, the new snow interface will be the main layer of concern heading into a snowy week.

Avalanche

We could easily trigger loose avalanches, especially on slopes that avalanched in early December. These slopes hold less than three feet of total snowpack depth and loose avalanches gouge deeper. On intact slopes, loose avalanches only gouge through the upper eight inches of weak snow, running on top of a very stiff mid-pack.