Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Kinler · Dec 29, 2022 · Gunnison

Weather

Cloudy and cold, westerly winds were light in lower elevation sheltered terrain but moderate near and above treeline.

Snowpack

Fairly quiet snowpack when departing the skin track and on the descent. The recent collapses have been very quiet so possibly didn’t hear some of them. There was around 12? of recent snowfall on the 12/27 interface. On south and southeast aspects this layer was surface hoar resting on a 2-3 cm crust. SH did not look as large or well-developed as other slopes I have seen. Looks to be decomposing a bit and getting entrained in the slab. It still produced easy hand sheers and is weak. Stomping on a few east and southeast slopes from the ridge did not produce any results.

Avalanche

Saw 2 naturals on a SE aspect around 11,200? that failed late yesterday with several inches of snow in the bed surfaces. Both released on surface/hoar resting on a thin melt-freeze crust. D1-D1.5 in size. Crowns were around 10?.