Gunnison

Cloud cover eased by midday with mostly sunny skies in the early afternoon. Just shy of an inch of new snow dusted the terrain. Light winds below treeline with more moderate speeds at upper elevations. cloud cover: few; wind loading: previous; recent snowfall (cm): 2; snow avail for transport: small smounts

We traveled on mostly easterly aspects through 11,000 feet without signs of instability.  Snowpack tests didn't produce results on the January or December dryspell layers.  We crossed a handful of recent drifts on sunny east or southeast features without collapse, but the crusts were thin enough that I couldn't rule out an isolated avalanche on a slope with just the right ingredients.  There is no shortage of weak snow in the pack, but slabs seem to be the isolated ingredient below treeline.  Snow surfaces provided reasonably good snow quality in between patches of windboard. We triggered a couple of small Dry Loose avalanches (facet sluffs) near the valley bottom on a very steep, shady feature.