Gunnison
AvalancheZach Guy · Jan 22, 2021 · Gunnison
Weather
Light snowfall through the day, about an inch of accumulation. Calm winds.
Snowpack
About 3 to 4 inches of low-density snow on the 1/19 interface. The rest of the snowpack is basically all fist hard facets. In a steep, open start zone near treeline, ski pen is to the ground, knee to thigh deep facets. The 1/19 snow surface abruptly changed to pencil hard where previous winds had concentrated into a tight gulley and stiffened the snow.
Avalanche
On a north aspect near treeline, we skier triggered a facet sluff that entrained the entire snowpack to the ground. It ran about 1,000 vertical feet, D1.5 in size. The sluff “stepped up” once it encountered hard, wind affected snow in a tight gulley.