Gunnison

Snowpack

Josh Hirshberg · Jan 3, 2013 · Gunnison

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Weather

Clear skies, mostly calm winds, cool temperatures. Saw a few plumes off the tops of peaks in the AM.

Snowpack

Surface ranged from surface hoar in the valley, to near surface facets on shaded slopes to very thin crusts on steeper SW slopes. Cool temps kept crusts at bay. Skiing was supportive and fast with an average ski pen of 20cm. Touring through one of the shallower parts of the region found a range of HS from 50-80cm. Sheltered N-NE slopes are still punchy in places. Here it seems that the lower slabs are beginning to facet and get slightly softer. On SW slopes of 55cm found thin “Christmas crust” (actually from 12/21-22) about 25cm below the surface. This, as well as a thin surface crust, only appeared on slopes >30°.