Gunnison
SnowpackAnonymous · Dec 28, 2012 · Gunnison
Weather
It was sunny and clear during the tour, however at the top of Mt. Emmons, low clouds came in from the north. These low clouds dropped into valley bottom and temperatures dropped precipitously. Aside from the parking area and summit, winds were calm. At the summit, north winds were between 10 and 15 mph and were transporting minor amounts of snow on to the cornices.
Snowpack
On Red Lady, I observed one area of instability. Hiking off the skin track at various elevations resulted in no collapsing or shooting cracks. I observed a soft slab east of the summit on a saddle (R1-D1). Test pit was dug at 11,170 feet on a SE aspect (160 degrees) on a 34% slope. The ground was talus as well as sections of the test wall. Height of snow was 105 cm. Air temperature at 12:30 PM was -12.6 degrees centigrade. New snow with F hardness was detected between 80 and 105 cm. Snow grains with 4F hardness and a size of 1mm were observed between 68 and 80 cm. Snow grains with 1F hardness and size between 1 to 2mm were found between 20 and 68 cm. 4F faceted grains were located between the ground and 20 cm. Facets ranged in size between 2 and 4mm. Ground temperature was -1.2 degrees centigrade and dropped to -7.1 degrees centigrade at 90cm. Surface snow had a temperature of -2.0 degrees centigrade. Stability tests: CT23 with Q3 on 4F snow at new snow/old snow interface. STM with Q2 (clean shear) at 45 cm on faceted grains atop talus.