Gunnison

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett · Dec 30, 2019 · Gunnison

Weather

Clear sky, calm wind, cold temps.

Snowpack

Wonderful ski conditions. The specific terrain that we found ourselves managing was previously wind-loaded terrain. This was were you could find the best distribution of Persistent Slab Structure and/or today’s forecasted Wind Slab Problem. NTL SE facing slopes only had the potential for concern where they were wind-loaded. Otherwise the snowpack is generally weak and mixed with crusts. In this terrain, the 12/26 thin crust may be the first to collapse into the 12/24. Though there are several layers of concern in the snowpack. A decent load and a new slab will need to happen to see the PSa problem expand and become widespread on this aspect. 1.5 SWE, or closer to 1.2 SWE in a quick loading event. NE NTL/BTL elevations were weak and not concerning for a slab avalanche problem in this terrain. HS was about 90cm. A few skier triggered sluffs, but they were stubborn, slow, and easy to manage.

Avalanche

Couple of small skier triggered Wind Slabs to D1.5 with crown depth 30-40cm. SE aspect, above treeline. Several skier triggered loose snow avalanches on NE to E to SE at NTL and BTL elevations. All small and moving slow.