Gunnison
AvalancheEvan Ross · Dec 3, 2023 · Gunnison
Weather
Between 10am and 12:30pm, snowing S-1 to S2. Moderate winds transporting snow in open valley areas.
Snowpack
HST 50cm at 10,400ft. Southeasterly slopes in this area still have a shallow snowpack. Enough to travel but the skis were still hitting the ground often enough. Changing aspect slightly more easterly or in flat terrain the HS 60cm to 80cm range.
Avalanche
I made an effort to remotely trigger the E-NE Cally Bowl from the ridge. Stopping multiple areas at the top of the slope didn't produce results, just a couple of muffled collapses. I got a result once I took my skins off and made an aggressive ski cut to force some snow down the slope. That small sluff turned into a 10" deep storm slab. The storm slab gained some mass and by the time it was reaching the bottom of the slope, it sympathetically triggered 2 persistent slab avalanches. The persistent slabs were about 1.5 feet deep and ran on the most recent old snow faceted interface before gouging to the ground.