Gunnison

Avalanche

T Brown · Feb 16, 2020 · Gunnison

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Weather

Overcast and snowing S-1, calm, warm air temps ~-4C

Snowpack

NE-E Aspects: HS 130cm, PF65cm in sun and wind-protected areas with 10cm new snow from last 24 hours. Last week's storm snow has settled into a 4F hard slab and is still reactive over a layer of 1mm Facets 50cm below the surface (2 x CTM (SC), ECTN). A layer of buried surface hoar layer 70cm down is still easily visible in snow profiles, but unreactive to snowpack tests. The biggest concern is still the layer of 4F hard sintered 3mm depth hoar about 10cm above the ground. Snowpack tests on this layer showed mixed results (CTM/H (SC), ECTX), but the 120cm slab of mostly 1F snow above is quite intimidating. Seemed like the dragon lurking at the bottom of the snowpack could still burn us if we managed to wake it. S Aspect: HS 100cm with several crust / facet combinations in the mid-pack that were reactive to snowpack tests (CTM (SC) and ECTP).

Avalanche

No cracking, collapsing or avalanches observed on several test slopes.