Gunnison

Avalanche

Crested Butte Avalanche Center · Feb 9, 2015 · Gunnison

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Weather

Hot! Gusty W winds on ridgetops, hardly noticeable elsewhere. Clouds slowly built throughout the day.

Snowpack

Just about anything you can imagine. On a small lee slope near TL I found everything from a supportive melted crust on more E-facing slopes and non supportive full depth facets on N-facing slopes that were sheltered from the wind. Slopes in between were supportive and showcased a nice surface hoar layer around 3-4 inches from the snow surface. Produced a clean Q1 shear on some baby burping. (Isolate a column and toss it up and down lightly). Snowpack was around 120 cm and deeper with some spots so supportive that I couldn’t push a pole through (these were more N-facing but likely benefited from the wind).

Avalanche

Saw a small point release or two (R1 D1) from trees and rock bands.