Gunnison
AvalancheCBAC Staff · Dec 27, 2023 · Gunnison
Weather
CLOUD COVER Few TEMPERATURE (F) Not Observed NEW OR RECENT SNOWFALL (CM) 1 RAIN/SNOW LINE Not Observed SNOW AVAILABLE FOR TRANSPORT None WIND LOADING Light WEATHER SUMMARY Moderate winds with a few moments of light drifting, but for the most part, surfaces are raked of all snow available for transport unless winds get even worse than the last two days.
Snowpack
I investigated the crowns of two persistent slabs on SW and SSE aspects ATL. The avalanches failed 2 to 3 feet deep on the 11/30 interface, under pencil-hard drifted slabs, with fairly strong mid-slab crusts from the mid-December warmup (the 12/23 crust was 2-3cm thick, pencil to knife hard). I looked at two other wind slab crowns on SE aspects N/ATL and the slabs failed on weak facets at the start of the most recent storm (~1.5mm facets, F hard, often with a thin soft crust in the vicinity).
Avalanche
Numerous hard slab avalanches ran during the 12/25 to 12/26 wind event. Several notable persistent slabs on wind drifted NE, SE, SW, and W aspects ATL D1.5-D2.5 in size. Numerous other wind slabs mostly on SE to SW aspects N/ATL, D1-1.5 in size