Gunnison
AvalancheZach Guy · Jan 17, 2025 · Gunnison
Snowpack
Northerly terrain observations: Below 10,300', the holiday slab has mostly faceted away, especially in steeper terrain where the snowpack is shallower. The collapse on a low angle SE suggests you might find a lingering instability where rotting slabs exist above collapsible crusts in steep terrain (Some E or W aspects have collapsible crusts). Above 10,300', 45 to 60 cm slabs remain intact and supportive; hard stomping is required to punch through to the weak layer, which did not provide feedback here on low angle terrain. Near summit: The recent northerly winds have eroded the holiday slab. The snow structure on planar and convex slopes where we traveled consisted of about 25 cm of low density, faceting snow over bedsurfaces from the Thanksgiving cycle; HS is less than 45 cm. Looking around, there are concave features where I suspect persistent slab structure hasn't been as eroded; we didn't travel on those slopes to verify.
Avalanche
Nothing today. Small wet loose activity from the past two days on south side of Schuylkill Ridge, and some recent dry loose activity (facet sluffs) on easterly aspects that was probably triggered by solar warming yesterday as well. There was a small hard slab avalanche in Red Lady Bowl on one of the mid-track rollers that was likely triggered by a skier or rider sometime this week.