Gunnison

Avalanche

(Public) Crested Butte Avalanche Center · Dec 8, 2018 · Gunnison

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Weather

Partly cloudy with the occasional snowflake.

Snowpack

We observed a R1, D1 slide on the saddle in-between the summit of Red Lady and Coon Basin on a steep south aspect.

Avalanche

One meter deep near tree line on a south facing aspect. A column test fractured the layer (about 5 inches down) between recent snow and the older, more consolidated layer on the seventh tap from the elbow. Nothing in the column fractured after that. There was a hard, defined icy layer in-between the ground facets and the bottom most consolidated layer of snow. Lower below treeline the new snow had turned into a, challenging to ski, breaker-crust. Our party of four observed no collapses or shooting cracks, and we kept our slope angle under 30 degrees.