Gunnison

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett · May 4, 2023 · Gunnison

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Weather

Mostly cloudy, with off-and-on light rain from sunrise through early afternoon. Overnight low temperatures close to freezing, rising to mid-40s by early afternoon.

Snowpack

Rain melted snow surfaces up to at least 12,000'. Last night a couple of inches of fresh snow fell at upper elevations, plastering a fresh white blanket above 11,500', but that snow quickly melted into wet snow surfaces as the mid-day rain reached peak heights. Frozen ice lenses in the upper snowpack remained solid and supportive into early afternoon. I found no places where I sank more than three to four inches into the snowpack either on skis or boots.

Avalanche

Light rain cause a couple of inches of fresh snow to shed mid-morning from very steep slopes above treeline.