Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Guy · Feb 10, 2021 · Gunnison

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Weather

Light to moderate snowfall, moderate southwest winds.

Snowpack

6” low density new snow was poorly bonded to previous wind hardened surfaces: shallow sluffing and easily triggered slabs in the new snow where winds were drifting it. Persistent slab structure is thin on windward aspects due to previous wind erosion.

Avalanche

Intentionally ski triggered a several fresh wind slabs (6” to 16”) thick, small in size (D1 to D1.5) on leeward and crossloaded features near treeline. On west facing terrain, airblasts triggered 2 persistent slabs that broke into older snow layers, 12” to 18”, about D1.5 in size.