Gunnison
AvalancheBen Pritchett · Feb 22, 2023 · Gunnison
Weather
Moderate to heavy snow all day, peaking mid-day. Early afternoon snowfall tapered off, with one brief clearing around 2pm. Steady strong southwest winds that penetrated into large swaths of forest. Difficult to measure new snow because of the wind but around 12 to 14 inches by 3pm.
Snowpack
Strong south then west-southwest winds moved snow all day, with efficient drifting on some features. Where we found drifts over a foot deep, we could easily trigger a small avalanche. The deepest drifts we encountered near treeline were up to two and a half feet thick.
Where the wind had not built fresh slabs, we could push loose avalanches on slopes steeper than 40 degrees that broke two to three inches deep, gouging up to six inches deep (just the top of the new snow).
Where the wind had not built fresh slabs, we could push loose avalanches on slopes steeper than 40 degrees that broke two to three inches deep, gouging up to six inches deep (just the top of the new snow).
Avalanche
Triggered a few small Wind-Slab avalanches along the Ziggens handrail ridge. Pushed Loose Dry avalanches on roll-overs steeper than 40 degrees on north and east-facing slopes.