Gunnison

Avalanche

Crested Butte Avalanche Center · Feb 14, 2014 · Gunnison

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Weather

Wx: Warm (25-30 degrees). Calm winds BTL, N/NW winds strong enough (10-15 mph) to transport snow ATL Overcast skies with very light intermittent snow.

Snowpack

Sx: A 1/2 cm crust was present on all open slopes. The only place a crust isn't present is right under heavily-treed areas, which indicates rain/ice from last night's warm precipitation (it was 35 at 10:30 PM in town). Another cm of graupel and light pow sat on top of the crust. This crust was totally ski-able and breakable and created some loud skiing. It might make a good sliding/sloughing surface when more snow falls.

Avalanche

Ax: Natural avalanches ATL: Slab on NE face (2 feet deep, pulling out at a rock band below a ridge, a few days old?), 2 or 3 smaller (6 inch) windslabs pulling out on E/SE aspect right below ridge in same zone (pretty fresh). There was also debris on east face NTL in a commonly wind-loaded slope. Ski activity did not produce any collapsing / cracking / sliding / sloughing.