Gunnison

Snowpack

12cm of recent storm snow fell on surface hoar. In the Anthracites, the 120cm deep snowpack is misleadingly supportive in areas w/ a lot of early ski traffic. In the heavily traveled areas, boot penetration is 20cm, get off the main lines and boot penetration is full depth (>100cm). Very weak snowpack for the depth. Minor cracking (<1m)in the recent storm snow around our skis, w/ cracks ending at the storm snow interface w/ the surface hoar. Not enough new load to avalanche in sheltered terrain features, but now the SH will be preserved as a weak layer for later... Near treeline, we observed isolated fresh wind deposits up to 40cm deep. Generally, yesterday's east winds moved little snow and we observed no terrain-spanning wind-slabs near and below treeline.