Gunnison
AvalancheEric Murrow & Brie Yost · Feb 27, 2026 · Gunnison
Weather
Thin, high clouds covered much of the sky. Light winds with a few moderate gusts. No snow transport observed. cloud cover: scattered; wind loading: none; recent snowfall (cm): 4; snow avail for transport: small smounts
Snowpack
We toured on southerly slopes near and above treeline. Surface crusts (melt/freeze and rain ice) softened a small amount and didn't introduce meltwater into the snowpack. A profile on a southeast feature near 11,800 feet showed a dry slab from the late February storm capped by a crust (see image). The mid-February storm snow faceted beneath a crust and could create a problem as meltwater drains into the snowpack in the future. A profile on a northeast feature at 11,600 feet produced an ECTP 23 on the February drought layer (see image). This structure is unlikely to provide feedback until you trigger a dangerous avalanche. We skied/toured across a few low-angle easterly features in the area without signs of instability, but pole probing confirmed poor structure. The rain crust was observed at our high point at ~12,600 feet. At this elevation, the ice layer was about 6mm thick.
Avalanche
A few recent avalanches from the rain on snow event on Wednesday and wind loading on Thursday.