Gunnison

Avalanche

Eric Murrow Evan Ross · Feb 18, 2021 · Gunnison

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Weather

Partly cloudy, cool temps, and light winds below treeline.

Avalanche

Moved through an area with shallower snow depths – generally around 90 – 120cm. Many slopes in this area ran naturally around 2/13. Slab thickness in this area was around 60 to 90cm. Ski penetration was around 6?. We experienced a good number of collapses…some by jumping, others just walking about. Some collapses may have traveled a couple of hundred feet producing cracks in one instance. Several collapses occurred immediately above steep northeasterly-facing slopes without cracking or avalanching on slopes below. Overall snowpack structure in this area looks very poor with 1finger slabs resting above well-developed, fist hard Depth Hoar (see image). Test results at two different sites with snow depths of 90cm and 115cm produced ECTP moderate results.