Gunnison
AvalancheEric Murrow Ben Pritchett · Mar 17, 2022 · Gunnison
Weather
New snow accumulations overnight ranged from 2 inches at valley bottom to 6 inches above treeline. Cloud cover alternated between overcast and broken. Light snowfall during the early afternoon hours.
Snowpack
In this snow favored area, the snowpack was commonly near or deeper than 300cm. We dug several profiles on southeast, east, and north slopes assessing the Persistent Slab structure (see profiles). The profile from the northerly slope was in an abnormally shallow area as we looking for a "trigger point" type location where it would be more likely for the weight of a person to impact the weak layer. On the north half of the compass the concerning February weak layer was generally 150+cm deep and 1 finger hard, no notable snowpack test results. No signs of instability were noted on the deeply buried weak layers.
Avalanche
Numerous loose avalanches in the storm snow around rocky areas near and above treeline. Several shallow slab avalanches in the storm snow were observed at upper elevations. All the fresh avalanche activity was small in size and generally not a threat to a person.