Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Guy · Dec 4, 2020 · Gunnison

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Weather

Clear, mild temps, calm winds.

Snowpack

Same old story. Weak faceted snow throughout the snowpack, generally fist hard. Decaying surface hoar in the top few inches of the snowpack produced some minor cracking where there were 2? wind drifts. Snow gains a little cohesion as you gain elevation, and also is a bit more supportive in sparse trees compared to open chutes. The most reactive sluffing is in open terrain without tree cover. We avoided steep shady terrain because of both pushy sluffs and rock hazards and returned via a low angle ridgeline.

Avalanche

Intentionally triggered about 8 dry loose avalanches from ridgeline, generally D1.5 with a few up to D2 in size. The sluffs started in the top 8? to 10? of faceted snow and plowed deeper as they ran further. Estimate they ran about 1500? to 2000? vert.