Gunnison

Snowpack

Brian Lazar · Nov 21, 2014 · Gunnison

Weather

cool early morning that warmed rapidly to mid 20s by 9:00am. Calm winds except a very light westerly breeze at ridgeline. Partly cloudy with plenty of sunshine.

Snowpack

HS ranges from 40cm on lower elevation south and east facing slopes. NO slabs at these lower elevations and mostly settled storm snow on ground with evidence of faceting throughout the thin HS. Around treeline HS was 60-70 cm on E and NE facing slopes., and here soft 4F slabs could support you on skis. Still lots of thin spots and the deeper coverage areas (and thus the slabs) are not yet very continuous. Up to 90-100 cm deep in windloaded areas near ridgeline. Surface conditions are small NSFs, patches of wind board, and even some moist snow on sunny south facing slopes by late morning. The Persistent Slab problem still exists on higher elevation slopes that even slightly face north. The recent storm snow has settled into a 40-55cm 4F slab in more sheltered areas. The more wind affected terrain has a thin (~10cm) harder (1F to P) windboard over the softer snow. The basal facets show some evidence of slight rounding. We could get CT results on the basal layers with sudden collapses but Q2 or Q3 breaks in the faceted layer. No results with ECTs. Main concern at this point is where the crust from early season snow is stouter and more continuous. Did not find that here, but suspect it's still there on more due north facing terrain near and ATL.