Gunnison
Quick reportEvan Ross · Jan 17, 2026 · Gunnison
Weather
Overcast in the morning, decreasing to clear in the afternoon. Steady moderate winds at 11,250. Most of the blowing snow had already occurred, but a few peaks were still managing to produce snow plumes near sunset. cloud cover: scattered; wind loading: previous; recent snowfall (cm): 1; snow avail for transport: small smounts
Snowpack
The winds are, of course, wrecking many snow surfaces. At lower elevations, the open areas have a mix of wind-affected snow with thin hard slabs or windboard on the lee sides of small terrain features. Surface conditions become far more wind-affected, or wind-eroded, as you climb in elevation. I was surprised to still find some soft snow surfaces on a couple of concave westerly avalanche paths around 11,000ft. Of course, all the wind effects were still around that area. Northerly facing slopes were in the shade in the afternoon, and I couldn't see the snow surface textures from afar. . Thin hard slabs and windboard were producing some shooting cracks and collapses on a couple of westerly facing slopes.