Gunnison

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett · Jan 14, 2021 · Gunnison

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Weather

Breezy, cool. Evidence of extreme winds overnight. Many downed trees along wind-exposed forest edges.

Snowpack

Snowpack averaged 60cm near Kebler Pass road, creeping up to 70-90+ cm near Lost Lake. Like many below treeline places around the state, the snowpack is rapidly weakening from the top down. I went hunting for a remnant slab that could still propagate a crack, but struck out. Slabs would just break in long-column tests rather than propagate a crack through the weak snow below. Compression tests still popped at late December surface hoar layer, and at the prominent Dec 11th interface.

Avalanche

One slab avalanche on an alpine southeast-facing slope above Middle Anthracite Creek that may have run overnight and the crown refilled today.