Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Guy · Nov 20, 2021 · Gunnison

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Weather

Weather: Light winds, light snowfall. Snowfall rates started increasing as we left around 4 p.m.

Snowpack

Snowpack: 2? to 3? of new snow. No signs of instability while traveling in steep terrain. In windsheltered terrain, the snowpack is now completely faceted throughout with ski pen close to the ground. Facets are 1mm in size near the surface and up to 2mm near the ground, generally fist hard to fist+ hard. In windier locations this structure is capped by a stiff wind crust of varying thickness; on easterly aspects, capped by a thin melt-freeze crust. We tested an isolated drift NTL and got hard, non-propagating results below a 15? hard slab.

Avalanche

Avalanches: Skier triggered a shallow but long-running sluff in the new snow.