Gunnison
AvalancheZach Guy · Dec 29, 2022 · Gunnison
Weather
Very light snowfall. Light winds with occasional moderate gusts causing brief periods of blowing snow. Cold temps.
Snowpack
35 to 40 cm of F to F+ snow down to our most recent facet (1mm) and crust/facet layers. This interface produced only minor cracking and non-propagating results in quick tests. No signs of buried surface hoar here. In lightly wind-drifted terrain exposed to down valley winds, we produced shooting cracks and triggered a couple of soft slabs breaking on precip particles within the storm snow, up to 25 cm thick or so. One was remotely triggered from 20 meters away.
Avalanche
Large natural slab avalanche likely ran this morning on a southwest facing slope of Gothic, to the ground. Skier triggered a couple of thin soft slabs that failed within the storm snow on lightly cross-drifted southerly terrain. Had decent vis of the Lower Slate from Birthday Bowl on Skooks to Happy Chutes and only saw a handful of loose dry avalanches.