Gunnison
AvalancheCBAC Staff · Feb 8, 2024 · Gunnison
Weather
Snowshowers on and off through the day with a few breaks in the clouds allowing the sun to shine through. Calm to light winds for the period that I was on Scarps Ridge.
Snowpack
Primarily traveled on the edges of start zones looking for results and digging into the snowpack. I was surprised by the little feedback and a few obvious signs of instability encountered. The 2/2 interface consisted of SH up to 1cm in size, to small facets on a crust, to just a crust. Even where I found a layer of good surface hoar, I didn't often observe obvious signs of instability. The slab was also often soft, F with a little 4F. The worst layer of SH was in lower Elk Creek where it was up to 1cm in size on NE-facing slopes. Interestingly I wasn't able to remotely trigger anything traveling above those start zones. The slab in the start zones was up to 85cm thick thanks to wind-loading off the Seven Sisters. F to 4F As the aspect became more easterly in Lower Elk Creek the SH got smaller and started to get backed into a crust. This area was where I was able to get a few small remote triggers that ran on the steepest terrain features and didn't propagate wide. The slabs here in more wind-sheltered terrain were around 60cm. F to 4F. A similar snowpack existed in the Moonscape area of Evans basin, though the slab was slightly smaller and down to around 50cm.
Avalanche
Remotely triggered a few small avalanches in lower Elk Creek. These ran on steep 40-40+ degree terrain and didn't propagate wide. Several small wind or storm slabs at higher elevations, but all small and not otherwise noteworthy.