Gunnison
SnowpackBen Pritchett · Jan 22, 2025 · Gunnison
Weather
Cold, strong north winds, broken skies with waves of very light snowfall.
Snowpack
At the valley bottom in Mill Creek the snowpack is around a foot and a half deep, and entirely faceted. Between 10,000 and 11,000 feet the snowpack is around 2 1/2 and 3 feet deep, faceted, but somewhat supportive on skis. The upper snowpack on most north-facing slopes is very weak and you can push Loose Dry avalanches on slopes around 40 degrees. East-facing slopes look the worst, with a brittle crust-facet combination in the upper snowpack. The snowpack is patchy on south-facing terrain with a couple inches of faceted snow above a 2 inch thick, stiff, supportive melt freeze crust. Current avalanche concerns are isolated (see observation summary above), but easy to trigger and mostly small where you bump into them below treeline. Looking to the future, this snowpack won't hold much weight if a slab develops.