Gunnison

Avalanche

CBAC Staff · Mar 22, 2022 · Gunnison

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Weather

Scattered clouds. Unseasonably cool temps. Light to moderate north winds where we traveled. Could see periods of blowing snow off of the high peaks.

Snowpack

Stability tests on a NW facing below treeline slope were unreactive on the dryspell layer, buried about 4 feet deep here. At this deeper location, the layer shows significant signs of rounding and strengthening compared to shallower parts of our forecast area. It was about .7mm in size and 1F hard under a pencil hard slab. Fresh drifts from last night’s northerly winds were scattered about, ranging from a few inches thick to about a foot thick, 4F to 1F hard. It was easy to produce shooting cracks or localized collapses in the thicker or denser drifts.

Avalanche

Ski cut a handful of tiny wind slabs and one that was large enough to take you for a ride (6? thick, 30 ft wide, D1 in size) in a cross-loaded NW facing chute.