Gunnison
AvalancheCrested Butte Avalanche Center · Jan 6, 2016 · Gunnison
Weather
Weather: warm, like only two pulls to get the sled started warm. Calm winds, snowing S1 pretty consistently throughout the day.
Snowpack
Snowpack: At 11,100 ENE aspect, 220cm HS. 20cm ski pen 45 cm boot pen. This low angle snow felt supportive. The steeper slopes we skied had slid during the christmas storm cycle, we didn’t stop to measure how much new snow was on the bed surface since we were shredding so so sweet, but it felt like 16 inches or so of decomposing new snow up high, same depth of more faceted snow down low.
Avalanche
Avalanches: Plenty of old crowns on pretty much all slopes steep enough to slide on east aspects below treeline. A couple old crowns up high just off the ridge below cornices but it doesn’t look like very much ran up there, and the cornices are getting big. We got one minor woomph on the skin track at 11,200, other than that no observed signs of instability.