Gunnison
AvalancheCBAC Staff · Feb 22, 2023 · Gunnison
Weather
Unpleasant. Significant blowing snow at all elevations, from the southwest where we were. Heavy snowfall around noon fizzled to nil this afternoon. Decreasing temperature trend and some periods of visibility this afternoon after the cold front.
Snowpack
8? to 10? of new snow. There was a mid-storm density change that produced localized cracking in sheltered terrain, and longer shooting cracks in leeward terrain, where drifts were up to 18? thick where we traveled. There were drifts near ridgeline and near valley bottom.
Avalanche
A pair of natural wind slabs ran today in two of the Climax Chutes, debris ran to the chokes, about 1900? vert in at least one of them. Couldn’t see the other. Skier triggered a thin storm slab on a steep, sheltered terrain feature, about 6? thick. Also triggered a sluff that gouged about 18? deep to the ground through weak facets on a slope that avalanched in January and has since remained shallow and rotting. Weather: Unpleasant. Significant blowing snow at all elevations, from the southwest where we were. Heavy snowfall around noon fizzled to nil this afternoon. Decreasing temperature trend and some periods of visibility this afternoon after the cold front.