Gunnison
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek · Jan 15, 2025 · Gunnison
Weather
Cold morning, -2 Fahrenheit when I left Marble at 9:00, and warmed up to 29 F by 16:00 at the trailhead. Windy morning (I could see significant wind transport from the east onto west-facing slopes along ridge tops on the drive) but calmed down to a light breeze by noon with no noticeable snow transport throughout the day. Did not see a single cloud all day.
Snowpack
The snowpack was around 1 to 1.5 meters deep with the slab showing clear signs of faceting throughout and making up roughly the top 1/3 of the entire snowpack. On west-facing slopes near and below treeline there is a crust about 15-20cm deep. I triggered several small cracks that appeared to fail below the crust and never traveled more than about 10 to 15 feet. On north-facing slopes there were no signs of cracking or collapsing and snowpack tests are showing stable results even though the weak layer is still very prominent and concerning. The weak layer is a thin layer of well-developed, fairly large faceted grains starting to show initial signs of rounding.
Avalanche
A fairly widespread shed cycle occurred with dozens of D1 to D1.5 Loose Wet avalanches running mostly on south and southwest-facing slopes just below cliff bands at all elevation bands in the Ragged Mountains throughout the day starting around 11:00 A.M.