Weather
Nice warm day with light southeast winds.
Snowpack
Near the Black Canyon, the snowpack is quite thin and weak, with only a Loose Dry avalanche problem. Around 10,000 feet, the snowpack becomes more layered, structured and supportive on a snowmobile. We found around 3 feet of snow cover at this elevation. Recent warmer temperatures settled the faceted snow surface, making Loose Dry avalanches less likely here than the colder parts of the Gunnison Valley. As we neared treeline, the snowpack depth increased to around 4 feet in wind-sheltered locations. Southerly slopes were shallower, but still had completely continuous coverage, with a few faceted melt freeze crusts in the upper snowpack. The northerly winds from mid-January damaged snow surfaces and eroded slabs on the steep north-facing slopes that we observed. Northeast through east to southeast, as well as west and northwest-facing slopes near treeline still harbor a potentially problematic buried slab and weak layer combination, but the slabs are faceting from the top down and growing less problematic until we see new loads.
Avalanche
No slab avalanches since the one reported on Bald Mountain on January 12th. Saw a few Loose Dry avalanches in the cold sink around the Black Canyon.