Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Guy and Eric Murrow · Feb 20, 2025 · Gunnison

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Observation photo 1Observation photo 2Observation photo 3Observation photo 4

Weather

Light snowfall with some moderate pulses added a few inches of new by early afternoon. Light winds where we traveled. cloud cover: overcast; wind loading: none; recent snowfall (cm): 6; snow avail for transport: small smounts

Snowpack

Below treeline, the persistent slab is about a meter thick, up to 1F at the bottom.  The February 8 crust is thin and collapsible on WNW aspects and thicker with frozen percolation columns into the facets on due W.  Structure is still poor, with a 1F slab over F+ facets, but we did not get propagating test results.  We targeted a couple of wind drifted features near treeline and did not produce any cracking, but did get one propagating test result (ECTP22) about 10" down in a drift that formed earlier this week.  . No signs of instability underfoot.

Avalanche

We got a closer look at the debris from the pair of persistent slabs that ran recently off of Schuylkill Ridge. Both reached valley floor. The larger of the two (looker's left) crossed the Slate but didn't reach Slate River Road.