Gunnison

Wet snow/graupel was falling when we left the parking lot at 0930, and we found 4cm of very wet new snow at 10,000'. A very warm day, and low clouds hung around, obscuring peaks in the Ruby Range and to our north. Winds picked up in the afternoon, with moderate to strong winds. Blowing snow could be seen on ridgelines. cloud cover: overcast; wind loading: moderate; recent snowfall (cm): 4; snow avail for transport: moderate amounts

The warm and wet storm that started last night isn't doing our sad snowpack any favors. Below ~10,500 ft the snow surface was ~5cm of saturated, wet snow, with moist snow underneth. We observed pinwheels and roller balls on a steep north-facing slope at 10,300 ft. Above ~10,500 ft, there was a thin rain crust that had refrozen on the snow surface in wind-blown patches, and a few cm of graupel/snow in terrain fetches, with mostly dry snow underneath. We turned around at 10,700'; however, looking up into the basin in East Beckwith, we estimate that this ice crust goes up above 11,000 ft. In our profile, we noted that our slab from 02/17 is gaining strength, and our boot pen is only 22cm, notably lower than the majority of the season on our sheltered northerly slopes. Our layer of concern is the 02/11 interface, 70 cm down, where we an ECTP 30 result. . Did not encounter any signs of instability underfoot today. We targeted one steeper terrain feature, but otherwise avoided steep slopes and runout zones. In our pit, we got ECTP 30 result on faceted grains at the 02/11 interface that was 70 cm below the surface.