Gunnison
SnowpackBen Pritchett · Mar 9, 2011 · Gunnison
Weather
Picked up 8 inches at the hut over the last 3 days, more like 4 inches in Cement Creek. Winds were a non-issue until Tuesday (3/8) AM, when moderate W-NW winds moved formed fresh near and above treeline. Despite overcast skies for all 3 days, radiation was significant player, with crust forming each day on SE-W aspects below treeline, and S-SW aspects above treeline.
Snowpack
The primary concern de jour is the fresh wind slabs fromed from yesterday's winds. We saw several R1/D1 wind slabs that popped early yesterday below corniced ridges. We tested a few small slopes w/ fresh slabs, but they were too soft (at the time) to slide. With continued loading throughout the day, this morning I'd be more leary of going into wind deposited slopes. Last week's storm snow has settled greatly and appears to only be a concern when it rests on a crust facet combo (present on some steeper sunny slopes). In 3 days of touring near and above treeline, we felt no collapsing and only observed minor cracking (3-4' cracks) above treeline as the fresh slabs were beginning to build the evening of the 7th. Snowpack tests continue to highlight the old weak layers which are getting deeper, and the overlying snow more settled and stronger. Likely these will be less of an issue until A) a big loading event, or B) our first significant spring warm up.