Gunnison

Snowpack

Ben Pritchett · Feb 23, 2021 · Gunnison

Weather

Very warm. Gusty winds in open terrain moved snow all day, but loading did not appear efficient.

Snowpack

I observed 3 very different snowpacks below treeline. On west through north through east the snowpack was around three feet deep. I observed poor snowpack structure with the late January and February snowfall settled into a 1 Finger hard slab. These slabs were stubborn to trigger on skis. But, I found it easy to initiate collapsing and long-running cracks if I stepped through the slab in my boots or by piercing the upper snowpack with my ski tails. The upper snowpack is gaining strength as a stiffer slab, but the weak layers below remain problematic. On Southeast and southwest-facing snow covered slopes, the spring transition has begun, with wet surfaces draining free water through most of the snowpack. Here the snowpack depth was generally less than 2 feet deep. Due south slopes or particularly sun-exposed and rocky terrain features were melted to mostly bare ground.