Gunnison
AvalancheEric Murrow Evan Ross CBAC · Mar 6, 2024 · Gunnison
Weather
Mostly cloudy skies with occasional snow showers. Winds blew just fast enough from the west to transport snow above treeline. Settled storm totals since 3/2 around 15 inches near treeline.
Snowpack
About 15-inch settled storm total since 3/2 (the dust interface) in the middle portion of Cement Creek around 11,000 feet. The height of snow in sheltered terrain was around 180cm. We measured snowpack depth in a few locations on the crowns of the remotely triggered avalanches and found depths 120 to 160cm. In this area, the slab above the early February weak layer is around 2 feet thick and mostly 4-finger with a small amount of 1-finger hardness snow. The early February weak layer consists of a thick layer ( a few inches thick) of 2-3mm facets capped with surface hoar. Slab hardness and depth appear to be an ideal ratio for human-triggered avalanches. Low elevation sunny slopes have developed soft crusts from mild temperatures the past few days with roller balls present on steeper terrain.
Avalanche
We remotely triggered 4 avalanches - 2 of these in the alpine bowl on North Double Top were on slopes that avalanched just a few weeks ago. Visibility was marginal, but we did not see any other natural activity in the area (possibly recent naturals above the ditch trail on Mount Crested Butte's east side). Less recent natural avalanche activity than expected.