Gunnison
AvalancheIan Havlick · Feb 16, 2021 · Gunnison
Weather
snow showers, bried S2. Accumulations <3" in Washington Gulch, though multi day storm totals in the 24" range. Mostly light NW winds, a few snow showers accompanied moderate gusts. Notable NW transport ATL at sunset.
Snowpack
increasing depth to ~120-140cm, still weak facets near ground. New snow pasted, generally right side up density structure. No signs instability in terrain traveled, except big recent natural avalanches.
Avalanche
Fresh D2+ avalanche west facing Gothic. Impressive propagation and crown depth zig zagging into treed terrain and skipping over terrain features. Debris ran long into runout, though not to historic trim lines. Looked to have failed as a storm slab or windslab above treeline and propagated horizontally at near treeline elevation. Observed a number of other D2 sized pockets in obscure undulating terrain near rock Creek and Elkton, though visbility was poor enough to prevent good photos. These smaller slides (<5) failed on south to southeast facing terrain BTL. Also, observed D2+ avalanches on NW facing Double Top in Brush Creek as well as D2 avalanche on SW facing slopes above Deer Creek.