Gunnison
AvalancheEvan Ross · Mar 8, 2024 · Gunnison
Weather
Cloud cover alternated between partly cloudy and mostly cloudy. Light winds. Strong solar and some green housing.
Snowpack
Traveled on a number of aspects with a deep snowpack over 2m, and observed no signs of instability. I dug on a 28-degree west aspect at 10,400ft. The HS was 185cm. The 2/2 interface was down about 80cm. The SH at the interface was decomposing and surrounded by 1.5mm rounding facets. PST 65/100 end at the interface. In the afternoon once everyone was out of the area, I targeted a west aspect at the same elevations, but this slope had a shallower HS due to precious winds throughout the winter. As I was cutting across a lower-angled section of slope, my ski eventually dropped through the slab and remotely triggered a large avalanche. The HS at the crown was 115cm. The avalanche broke 30cm above the ground on large-grained depth hoar.
Avalanche
In the afternoon I targeted a west aspect at 10400ft, this slope had a below-average HS due to previous winds throughout the winter. As I was cutting across a lower-angled section of slope, my ski eventually dropped through the slab and remotely triggered a large avalanche. The HS at the crown was 115cm. The avalanche broke 30cm above the ground on large-grained depth hoar. The resulting crown was about 900ft wide and produced avalanche debris around an estimated 30 feet deep. There was an even bigger remotely triggered avalanche on another West-facing slope in the same area. See this observation. https://cbavalanchecenter.org/view-observations/#/view/observations/7e426cc8-a0ab-40f1-a980-58eeab67e2fa