Avalanche forecast

Gunnison

Crested Butte Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Fri
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

A couple of inches of new snow has brought us close - but not quite - to MODERATE danger.  You can still get into serious trouble today if you let your guard down in high consequence avalanche terrain.  Small sluffs are easy to trigger.  They can entrain enough snow to push you into trees, over cliffs, or bury you in a long-running gulley.  

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5

    Dry loose avalanches (sluffs) are the most problematic on the north half of the compass, especially in wind-sheltered terrain at near and below treeline elevations.   Where the upper snowpack is weak and cohesionless, you can easily trigger small sluffs on slopes steeper than about 38 degrees. Ski cuts, moving across the fall-line while descending, or choosing lower-angled slopes are effective techniques to manage this problem. These avalanches will continue to accumulate mass in big terrain with sustained steep slope angles. Use caution above gullies where an avalanche can pile more deeply and above trees and cliffs where the consequences of a small sluff will be exacerbated. 

    A great example of sluff management in terrain where a loose dry avalanche could be more problematic because it gets funneled down a gulley.  

Avalanche Discussion

Yesterday's system brought about 2" of new snow to the forecast area, with light northerly winds.  This was a couple of inches short of our forecast, and just shy of the threshold we drew on the chalkboard to keep us at MODERATE danger for today. 

Although you may encounter a few isolated and small drifts out there, today's hazards are primarily loose dry avalanches.  With small doses of snow and ongoing faceting in the upper snowpack, the danger posed by loose dry avalanches has been slowly increasing over the past two weeks. The amount of loose snow available for entrainment on the northern half of the compass is as much as 8" to 10" in some areas.  In the big picture, we are still on the lower end of the danger spectrum because our current concerns are small and manageable in size.  In sustained steep terrain or high consequence terrain, the loose dry avalanche problem is serious enough to cause trouble.  Many skiers and riders have been venturing into this type of terrain over the past couple of weeks, and we continue to see a steady string of human-triggered loose snow avalanches or small pockets of wind drifted slabs.  Scan through our media gallery below or our observations page for examples of what you can expect to encounter if you are riding slopes steeper than about 38 degrees on the northern half of the compass.  If you are not practiced and comfortable with sluff management, reconsider steep avalanche terrain that funnels into trees, rocks, cliffs, or gullies. Rather, choose open slopes with clean runouts or lower slope angles.    

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