Gunnison

Snowpack

Toured un-opened, un-skied Irwin Tenure today. Dug several snow profiles and performed several stability tests on SW and NW terrain at 11,000ft (near treeline). Melt freeze crust found at the bottom of the current storm snow (Nov 22nd crust) is producing consistent compression test failures from elbow taps or early shoulder taps above and below the crust, with the slab consisting of F+-4F hardness. Felt a few moderate collapses and some localized cracking off skis in wind drifted terrain. Kept slope angles moderate, but steeper slopes seem ripe for triggering. Visibility was poor and moderate snow limited observations of surrounding slopes.