Gunnison
AvalancheEric Murrow · Mar 10, 2024 · Gunnison
Weather
Pleasant day with mild temperatures but felt a bit cooler than expected. Calm winds overall with brief periods of light winds.
Snowpack
A single collapse in a shallow west-facing area; the collapse was localized to the wind-scoured area near a ridge top and did not connect to the deeper snow nearby. Depth around 3 feet at collapse. The snow depth around Beckwith Pass ranged from about 180 to 220cm in sheltered areas around 10,000 feet. I toured on mostly westerly aspects below treeline. I dug a test profile after experiencing a localized collapse near a ridgetop. The profile site was about 140 cm deep and did not produce propagating results in a standard test. I did get a result on the surface hoar layer once I removed much of the February slab. Snow surfaces on the north half of the compass are small-grained facets. Sunny slopes became wet down to the dust layer. There may have been a short window below treeline to trigger loose avalanches on very steep sunny features, but these would have remained small in size as the snowpack below remains dense and supportive.
Avalanche
Small loose avalanche on east through south through west aspects near and above treeline. Most were present when I arrived and likely released on Saturday or Friday. I did see a couple small loose avalanches run midday in steep east-facing terrain on East Beckwith.