Gunnison

Avalanche

CBAC Staff · Dec 2, 2022 · Gunnison

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Observation photo 1Observation photo 2Observation photo 3

Weather

Strong winds and blowing snow most of the day. Hard to gauge how much it was snowing vs blowing.

Snowpack

HST was about 20cm by 1 pm at 10,500ft. A distinct layer of graupel near the base of the storm and plenty of graupel mixed in with other perception particles within the storm now. Thick and supportive new snow. Made the low angles ski really well. Total HS in the area is around 100 to 120cm. Lots of collapses and shooting cracks in the snowpack, as has been normal lately. Each time I looked, those cracks were extending down to the weak sandbox near the base of the snowpack.

Avalanche

Skier triggered a couple of small slides. The first was while descending small, but steep terrain. The 2nd was while bouncing for a collapse, resulting in a remotely triggered avalanche from about 25 feet away.