Gunnison
SnowpackCrested Butte Avalanche Center · Feb 15, 2013 · Gunnison
Weather
Overcast skies at the trailhead and cold temps. Crazy winds. On the valley floor, winds blowing strong out of the NW, transporting lots of snow. This continued up the skin track, with trees moving quite a bit. Strong winds were blowing straight up Big Chute, Baby Bowl and 7 Bowl, making for firm snow conditions at the top of Big Chute. Visibility at times near the ridge was limited to less than 50 feet.
Snowpack
Snowpack: In open areas, the wind had blown upwards of 10" into the skin track. In treed areas, the snow was only 2-4" in the skin track. New snow looked to be something like 6-8", with windloaded drifts getting as deep as 3'. It was hard to tell the amount of new snow because a bunch of it was moving around in the wind. On the upper ridge, you could see wind drifts forming almost right in front of you. One spot had a drift nearly 6' tall and 20' long that was made up of very soft snow, which we figured was from new storm snow! Avy Activity: (1)We noticed a fresh natural avalanche, SS-N-R2-D1, on a 40* NE slope on the lookers right of Baby Bowl (thinking this is a repeat offender). It was about 80' wide, and consisted of only the new storm snow. Crown appeared to be just a few inched deep to about a foot. It ran at the new snow/old snow interface. Appeared to have been triggered by a snow bomb from a tree? Or slough? (2) On a roll into Big Chute just at the trees at the top, 2nd skier noticed a crack about 15' wide across the slope. No movement associated with that crack.