Gunnison

Snowpack

Zach Guy · Jan 2, 2013 · Gunnison

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Weather

Temps remained cold (below 20F) with strong solar morning to midday. Wind was light from the NW with moderate gusts. Light but steady snow transport most of the day with drifts forming and small plumes on ridgetops. Sky was clear all morning, increasing to scattered/broken in the afternoon. No precip.

Snowpack

Surface is variable. Wind skins and shallow windslabs (<6”) in wind affected zones above treeline. Wind protected zones still dry powder with some faceting. First time into our SW above treeline terrain: snow is generally shallow, faceted, and unsupportive, with isolated pockets of deeper crossloaded slab. Explosive control produced no significant results. West slopes above treeline developing small pockets of 6” 4F windslabs on crossloaded terrain features from NW winds. These were touchy to ski cuts, with nearly a dozen slabs releasing from ski cuts or explosives failing on faceted snow. (SS-ASc&AE-R1D1-I). On south aspects near treeline, we ski cut 3 soft slab avalanches (6-10" deep) failing on the thin layer of facets above the Christmas crust (SS-ASc-R2D1-I) See full profile/photo. On E/SE aspects above treeline, shallow 3” windslabs near ridge line reactive to ski cuts failing on precip particles.