Gunnison
SnowpackJosh Hirshberg · Feb 20, 2013 · Gunnison
Weather
Broken thin clouds in the AM, becoming overcast by 11:30. Cloud levels dropped through the day. Light snow began after leaving the field @ 14:00. Below treeline, only light winds. Moderate SW wind above treeline.
Snowpack
Above treeline snowpack was variable. With 15cm of fresher windslab sitting on older thicker slabs. Shallow slabs were not reactive to the weight of a skier. Cornices have gotten thick over the past week. Surface varied from stiff windboard, to sastrugi, to soft wind-buffed. One moderate collapse noted on a ridgtop near a cornice. Below treeline, HS averaged 100cm with over 125cm in places. Thin crusts on the surface of SW slopes. Shaded slopes were mostly supportive w/ dry and soft surface. Excellent skiing. Here, ski pen is up to 15cm. Saw persistent slab structure on NW-E in upper half of snowpack, and near the ground. Slabs were unreactive to the weight of skiers. Not much major hardness difference between weak layers and overlying slabs. Found isolated areas of punchy, weak, faceted snow near rocks and cliffs. Skiing up to 45° on NW slopes resulted only in sloughs in the upper 20cm of the snowpack running roughly 50ft vertical. These were relatively slow, and did not gouge into deeper layers. No cracking or slab activity observed.