Gunnison

Snowpack

Eric Murrow · Apr 12, 2025 · Gunnison

Weather

Warm temperatures and occasionally gusty winds below treeline. Increasing clouds in the late afternoon. cloud cover: clear; snow avail for transport: none

Snowpack

I targeted northerly facing slopes up through 11,000 feet. Loose avalanches were fairly easy to trigger here as meltwater hangs in the smaller-grained, winter-like snowpack. I dug a profile near a location I dug a week ago (meltwater had not reached basal weak layers as of 4/5) and found that meltwater has reached basal weak layers at a depth of 180cm (6 feet, no previous avalanche activity). Lots of water was hanging out in the upper snowpack, with water oozing into the rounding depth hoar below. Ice columns were in the top few inches of depth hoar but did not reach the ground (see image). Southerly-facing terrain below treeline lost support by noon, making it challenging to descend in the early afternoon (trapdoor). . I triggered two loose avalanches on north and northeast aspects below treeline. One gouged into the snowpack (the slope is shallow from avalanche activity earlier this winter). A few new loose avalanches that ran today near and above treeline on northeast slopes.