Gunnison

Mostly clear skies, light wind's below treeline, and about 9ish inches of new snow. cloud cover: few; wind loading: none; recent snowfall (cm): 22; snow avail for transport: large amounts

I was out slashing pow for fun today, but dug a couple of profiles below treeline, checking in on the Christmas crust on northerly slopes below treeline now that 2+ feet of dense snow has accumulated on it.  Two profile sites, 10,400 and 10,550 feet (NE aspect), produced moderate propagating test results below the Christmas crust in the December drought facets.  The Christmas crust was about 1cm thick at this elevation, and we did not travel any higher.  I am uncertain how problematic this structure is around 10,500 feet, but it is less worrisome at lower elevations, where the crust becomes thicker, AND I would not want to travel on steep slopes any higher, where the crust thins as I suspect it's near a breaking point. We did not experience any cracking or collapsing. A few natural avalanches were visible near and above treeline while snowmobiling out the Slate River corridor.