Gunnison

Snowpack

Crested Butte Avalanche Center · Feb 24, 2013 · Gunnison

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Weather

WEATHER: Cold, light winds from East, gusty at ridgetop and moving snow.

Snowpack

LOCATION: Emmons/Red-Coon Glades (NE/SE/S/SW to 11,700') SNOWPACK: Found 15-25 cm of new snow. A bit more cohesive then yesterday's fluff, and has settled into a soft slab and been thickened by wind up high. On solar aspects small facet layer just below most recently buried old crust is reactive to shovel tilt tests with sudden planar fractures but showing mostly rough and break type failures or no failures at all in Compression and Extended Column tests. Near and above treeline these crusts were less developed, hard to find, and less reactive then lower elevation. Steep N aspect in Coon Bowl at treeline revealed 30cm new snow over a 4F+ eroding buried old windcrust over full depth facets. HS at 11,700' was 120 cm. AVY ACTIVITY: Observed 4 different fresh soft storm slab avalanches (all D1) below cornices at ridgetop in Coon & RL Bowls. All were just in new snow, ran short distances, and were in steep E/SE windloaded terrain.