Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Guy · Dec 1, 2020 · Gunnison

View on map

Weather

Mostly cloudy, light northerly winds, very light snowfall.

Snowpack

A shallow, weak mess. Snow depth is about a foot deep, almost entirely fist hard, 1 to 1.5 mm facets. The surface is 5 - 15 mm surface hoar (upright and intact) covered by the inch of snow that fell this morning. On east to southeast aspects, there is a decaying melt-freeze crust midpack which disappears as you tilt north. Yep, buried surface hoar on facets on a crust - nasty!

Avalanche

Intentionally triggered several long-running dry loose avalanches, large enough to drag or carry someone (D1.5). The slides entrained the entire snowpack (about a foot deep) and ran about 1000 vertical feet.