Gunnison
SnowpackEvan Ross · Mar 22, 2024 · Gunnison
Weather
Beautiful weather. Few clouds. Light winds, and warm temps.
Snowpack
On my way back around 2 pm, I observed full-depth shooting cracks on an easterly facing slope at 9,900ft. The snowpack was beginning to become unsupportive in this area. The cracks extended down to moist facets at the ground. The total snowpack depth here was about 100cm. Otherwise, the rest of the tour was pretty uneventful. Before noon, easterly-facing slopes were just softening up and westerly-facing slopes remained locked up with strong surface crusts. On west, those surface crusts extended up to 11,500ft before they became a bit more variable. A NE-facing slope at 11,900ft had just a little moist snow at the surface. I hunted around for the right terrain for the persistent slab avalanche problem but didn't end up lucking out. Otherwise terrain management was specific to warming snow surfaces.