Gunnison
AvalancheCrested Butte Avalanche Center · Nov 24, 2018 · Gunnison
Weather
Light snow in the AM with moderate W winds. Sky remained obscured throughout the day with winds increasing at noon gusting to strong. Precip. rate increased at 2:30 snowing s5 at times with winds shifting from the N. Temps in the AM 19F the high for the day and dropping to 14F by 4:00 PM.
Snowpack
Before the storm HS of 14″ of faceted weak snow. The night of 11/22 Mt CB received 8″ .6″ SWE of new followed by another 8″ on the night of 11/23 w/ .6″ SWE, and another 7″ new during the day of the 24th. During the day of the 22nd and 23rd the storm slabs were not that consolidated Fist hard. NTL and BTL on both days there was wide spread collapsing and cracking but cracks were not propagating very far( Avg. 10-20′). ATL N/O
Avalanche
Several R1-D1 avalanches triggered from ski cuts failing on basal facets at the ground N-W aspects NTL/BTL. There were also numerous R1-D1 remotely triggered slides from skis and machinery on the ski hill. The snow pack was touchy bordering on very touchy throughout all the terrain we traveled within the last day. All of the obs. are from areas that have not been affected by skier traffic or avalanche mitigation work this season. CBSP observed 3 natural avalanches on 11/24 NTL N-W aspects. SS-R2-D1- O/G-N SS-R3-D1-O/G-N SS-R2-D1-O/G/N