Gunnison
SnowpackEric Murrow · Dec 2, 2025 · Gunnison
Weather
Light snowfall before noon measured just less than 2 inches when it stopped. Winds were calm below 12,000 feet and light above that. Visibility was obscured for the time I was out and I couldn't see much terrain around me. cloud cover: overcast; wind loading: previous; recent snowfall (cm): 4; snow avail for transport: moderate amounts
Snowpack
My goal was to check out drifting on southeast features at upper elevations, and I found some recent drifts, but they were typically just a few inches thick and unreactive. More of a breaker windboard than a slab in this area. You didn't have to travel more than a ski length off the ridge to find soft snow. I suspect there are a few isolated spots where you could trigger a small slab on southerly features with more significant drifting, but I didn't encounter it here. This area received noticeably less snow than my previous day's tour in Baxter Basin, about 10 inches from the last storm. Easterly and southeasterly slopes without wind loading don't appear to have a slab avalanche problem. You might be able to push a tiny loose avalanche in the surface snow on very steep terrain. I experienced a handful of small collapses on eastery-facing terrain near treeline; sometimes with a soft crust capping the weak layer, sometimes without. Failure radiated up to 15 feet. While ascending an alpine rideline, I collapsed two large wind whales. I triggered a teeny, tiny wind slab on a southeast-facing feature.