Gunnison

Snowpack

Ben Pritchett · Feb 17, 2022 · Gunnison

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Weather

Chilly air temps, lots of sun, brisk northerly winds transporting a little snow.

Snowpack

Only 2-3" of new snow did not dramatically change the avalanche problems in this area - more of an incremental loading situation. Not quite enough snow to really add much volume to Dry Loose avalanches. The wind changed directions during and after the storm so we found no consistent loading pattern. Wednesday (2/16) westerly winds drifted onto easterly-facing slopes, but today's northerly winds flip-flopped the loading patterns. Near and above treeline, southeast to east-facing slopes hold the most drifted snow, and those soft drifts rest on a thin crust above facets - this combo, drifts on friable crusts, is the biggest avalanche concern at the moment. We could easily trigger tiny cracks on southeast slopes that we encountered, but we couldn't find any places where enough snow drifted to create any avalanche larger than a sluff.