Gunnison
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek · Mar 14, 2023 · Gunnison
Weather
Chilly morning (10F) at the trailhead around 8:00 quickly warming to above-freezing temperatures by 10:00 and felt significantly warmer in the sun. Scattered clouds for most of the day with light southwest gusts but mostly calm.
Snowpack
The snowpack in this area is deep with not many signs of instability. Westerly-facing slopes along Schuylkill Ridge had an average height of snow (HS) around 150-210cm while easterly-facing slopes had an average HS of 230-300cm increasing with elevation. Snowpack tests on a shallow southeast face with an HS of around 190cm showed propagating failures on 1mm FC on top of a MFcr 80cm below the surface with another MFcr 60cm below the surface showing no results. Snowpack tests on northeast, north, and northwest-facing aspects showed no signs of instability. All snow surfaces facing east through south to west were wet down to about 8cm and will develop into a thick MFcr with a good overnight freeze.
Avalanche
Observed a few slabs between one and three days old and several Wet Loose avalanches on sunny slopes growing up to D1.5 in size. Avalanches coded in separate observations.