Gunnison

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett · Nov 25, 2020 · Gunnison

Weather

Clear, warm day, with light winds. Only occasional light drifting.

Snowpack

Noisy, collapsing snowpack on north and northeast-facing slopes above 11,000' where more than 2 feet of snow rests on the ground. Over a dozen rumbling collapses with long-running shooting cracks in open slopes near treeline. The key factor was older (buried) wind drifts on faceted old snow. Without old wind-slabs, ski penetration was to near the ground and there was no avalanche problem. Where the snow became more supportive from old drifting, cracking and collapsing was a sure bet, in each open feature. No avalanche problems observed on other aspects. Notably there was no cracking or collapsing on east facing-terrain. On east there was a think, discontinuous layer of moist facets at the ground that did not fail in snowpack tests. Southeast to south-facing slopes had only the storm snow covering dirt. Minor recent drifting near ridgelines produced no cracks.

Avalanche

One small loose avalanche seen on a west-facing slope above Taylor Reservoir.