Gunnison

Avalanche

Zach Guy · Mar 1, 2014 · Gunnison

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Weather

Heavy snowfall this morning, with light snowfall/graupel through the day, and a heavy squall of snow again after 3pm. Extreme gusts all day at mid and upper elevations with periods of intense snow transport. Average ridgetop speed ~40 mph, max gust 99 mph, veering from SW to WSW. Overcast skies. Temps cooled from 23F to 18F at ridgetop, and from 27F to 23F at study plot.

Snowpack

6.5” (.75” SWE) last night, and 8.5” (1.3” SWE) today. HST at 18.5” with 3.0” SWE since Thursday. Multiple pits on W aspects near treeline showed easy propagating results on a mid-storm layer 20-30 cm deep. Deeper rain crusts (Feb 14 ~50cm deep, and Jan 29 ~140 cm deep) did not show concerning faceted structure above or below.

Avalanche

Skier triggered about 10 soft slabs on West facing terrain near and below treeline. Average 6-12” deep, 4F+ hardness, 30-40’ wide, failing on a low density storm layer. SS-ASc-R1/2-D1/1.5-S. Specific to slopes steeper than 37 or 38 degrees.