Gunnison
AvalancheZach Guy · Feb 5, 2014 · Gunnison
Weather
Cold temps, light southwest winds, S-1 snowfall beginning at the end of the day. Broken hazy skies.
Snowpack
3 profiles from different locations on NE aspects near and below treeline, showing the Jan 27th near surface facets gaining strength under 60 to 80 cm of recently formed slab. Stability tests consistently showed hard initiation and broken or no failures on this layer. (ECTN 25+, Q3). Temperature gradients averaged 0.6*C/10cm at the interface and grains showing an increase in hardness with rounding since burial. Below ridgeline on NE aspect, the top 10-20cm was denser and stiffer, but no cracking observed with ski cuts and cornice drops. Lots of the steeper slopes had flushed mid-storm. One pit on old bed surface showed same results as above, ECTN, with 50 cm of slab on a hardened bed surface. 3 profiles on SE aspects near and below treeline showed ~50 cm of recent slab with good bonding on the Jan 27th crust, which was 10-15 cm thick. A new crust formed last Sunday, ~2cm thick with 15-25 cm of new fist hardness snow above it.
Avalanche
2 piles of new debris out of Redwell Basin, north aspect ATL, couldn't tell if it was a sluff or slab, D1. No signs of instability on slopes up to 40* on S, SE, and NE. We observed one rumbling collapse on the flats after 8 tracks had crossed it.