Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Guy · Mar 24, 2016 · Gunnison

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Weather

Scattered clouds, mild temps, calm winds, pulse of S1 near sunset.

Snowpack

25-30 cm of settled storm snow over a dust layer, well bonded to old interface, with no fractures in stability tests and no signs of instability on steep rollovers. Minimal signs of windloading in this area. Snow surface had moistened earlier in the day and was refreezing into a breakable crust on pitches with a ENE tilt. One profile on a due north slope BTL showed the March 6 facet layer had gained significant strength since my profile in the same area last week. Hard ECTN results and Q2 fractures in compression tests on this layer, Near treeline on a NE aspect, the same layer was above a very thin melt-freeze crust, and below 80cm of 1F slab. We got repeatable hard ECTP Q1 results on this layer (see video).

Avalanche

No recent avalanches observed from Slate River Road, with good views of Emmons and Schuylkill Ridge