Gunnison

Snowpack

Steve Banks · Feb 2, 2012 · Gunnison

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Weather

Cloudy afternoon with light and variable winds. Temperatures were just below freezing.

Snowpack

Lower angled terrain held soft surface snow, while steeper slopes had a crust. Below the surface there was a 1 finger hard slab 6-10" thick depending on the area. All areas had 1-1.5 feet of large, sugary depth hoar snow going down to the ground. When walking around in boots every other step would sink to the ground. On skis you could stay on the surface more easily. Noticed several smaller avalanches which ran many days ago. Some of these were surprisingly small and in areas where you would not expect to see slides. Most steep rollovers, even on small slopes showed evidence of previous avalanching.