Gunnison
AvalancheIan Hoyer · Mar 2, 2017 · Gunnison
Weather
Generally nice, warm, bluebird day except that temperatures dropped down below freezing when we were passing Taylor Reservoir mid-morning.
Snowpack
8-10 inches settled new snow near Cottonwood Pass and near Taylor Pass. ~6 inches in Taylor Park. The surface slabs were non-cohesive and soft, except in wind-affected areas. Even in wind-affected areas, I didn't find surface snow harder than 4 fingers. Below the new snow, there are a variety of crusts and near surface facet layers in the upper foot of the snowpack. Crusts on below treeline straight south facing slopes were knife hard and >5 cm thick, it seems unlikely that the facets beneath will be an issue. On less sun exposed slopes (SE-E) and behind trees, I found thin, collapsible crusts with facets both above and below. On sheltered shady slopes there are no crusts, but there are still near surface facets just below the most recent snowfall. No cracking or collapsing observed. Quite a bit of wind drifting from west winds was evident, even below treeline in exposed areas. Snow surface remained dry even on sunny slopes below treeline in the afternoon.
Avalanche
Observed several small Wind Slab avalanches around Cottonwood Pass and on the west side of Taylor Park. Also saw debris from a slide that ran ~1500 ft on a W aspect near Taylor Pass, but couldn't see into start zone.