Gunnison

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett · Jan 3, 2020 · Gunnison

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Weather

Extreme winds and intense drifting above treeline. North winds penetrated into forest and through the valley bottom.

Snowpack

Alpine snow surfaces were ravaged. Multi-foot deep wind-scallops developed on northerly facing terrain. Rippled dunes formed in relatively sheltered areas facing east and south. Drifted slopes are now a chaotic mix of hard and soft slab. Drifting snow accumulated mostly near treeline. On a drifted easterly aspect w/ an HS of 115cm, ECTP 13, down 30cm on 1.5mm FCsf. Nearby on a south-easterly aspect, HS reduced to 60cm, with only a little bit (avg ~10cm) new snow above the crust formed in the Pre-Xmas heat wave.

Avalanche

We saw 5 fresh small to large Wind Slab avalanches on east to south facing terrain. All broke within the upper snowpack or within the recent drifts (1 was particularly deep).