Gunnison

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett and Eric Murrow · Jan 3, 2023 · Gunnison

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Observation photo 1Observation photo 2Observation photo 3

Weather

Surprisingly snowy all day. S1-2. Ligh winds picked up in the afternoon.

Snowpack

We measured around 3.3" of water equivalent in the storm snow above the late December violent wind event buried crust, which marks the bottom of the slab. The load of the recent storm snow is critically overloading the weak layers below the prominent wind-crust.
We experienced numerous rumbling collapses on slopes without signs of prior collapse. Many slopes had collapsed and cracked in the few days prior.

Avalanche

We remote triggered a pair of slab avalanches that broke to near the ground on a west-facing slope near 10,500'. We might have remote triggered another in a cliff southwest-facing glade. We saw the slide later in the day, below our up route.
We also saw several recent slides down valley, on the lower parts of Cement Mountain on north and east-facing slopes. Lower Cement Creek has finally developed a soft slab avalanche problem.