Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Guy · Jan 28, 2014 · Gunnison

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Weather

Moderate winds from WSW, cold temps, clear skies.

Snowpack

3” (.15" SWE) of new snow yesterday/overnight. Most of terrain showed 1-5" over a variety of old, firm or faceted surfaces with no signs of instability. Our most heavily wind loaded ridge line (E/SE ATL) developed 6-8" deep soft slabs that were isolated to just below ridgeline and sensitive to ski cuts. Last night’s new, low density snow developed a very widespread layer of .5mm near surface facets on all slopes. This formed over a uniform layer of soft windblown snow that blew in yesterday.

Avalanche

One natural soft slab on a SE aspect ATL, 6" deep, 10-20 ft wide, ran 30 feet. Ski cut several similar slabs, averaging 6-8" deep. Very small but could have knocked you off your feet. SS-ASc-R1-D1-I running on MFcr from our dry/warm spell.