Gunnison

Avalanche

Anonymous · Jan 12, 2014 · Gunnison

Weather

Bluebird, light SW wind G15-20 above treeline, mid-20s

Snowpack

Generally very stable. 14" storm snow from Thursday night and Friday. No collapsing or cracking witnessed in over 6,000 feet of skiing on aspects ranging from east to northwest and elevations ranging form 9,800 to 11,800'. We had been skiing slopes form 20 to 40 degrees without incident. We did see sloughing off the cliffs and ensuing slides on steep east-facing slopes, and avoided exposure to such slopes during the tour.

Avalanche

One of our party was skiing the edge of a sizable slide path, in trees ranging 10-25' tall. He skied over a convex roll, and a slide released, propagating 30m wide and sliding about 100' vertical. Skier exited the slide to side and was not injured. Crown was about 40cm, with surface pen hardness and 0 ski penetration. The slide stayed in the storm layer and did not step down. We were very surprised to see this bed surface on a shaded, north-facing slope. When we skied the same are today, we experienced shooting cracks near the slide, but had no other releases.