Gunnison
AvalancheEric Murrow · Dec 31, 2020 · Gunnison
Snowpack
Slopes very near valley bottom felt incredibly weak and produced regular collapsing but only traveled 20 or so feet. As I ascended just a few hundred feet above valley bottom on east and northeast terrain, the collapsing started to propagate hundreds of feet to slope scale size. Slab formation since 12/10 is only about 40cm thick and mostly fist hard with a small amount of 4finger. It rests on well-developed facets around 3mm in size. Total depth on east and northeast slopes averaged around 65cm. The snowpack was screaming to avoid all avalanche terrain and so that’s what I did, but managed to be surprised by collapses rolling through low-angled, mature aspen forest and triggering adjacent slopes. The snowpack in this area is incredibly reactive and steep slopes feel like a sure bet for an avalanche. Small surface hoar observed on northerly slopes.
Avalanche
Remotely trigged 3 very small D1’s on east-northeast aspect from a single collapse that propagated around 300-400 feet Remotely trigger a D2 avalanche from about ~500 feet away that traveled through several terrain features and mature aspen groves