Gunnison

Mostly cloudy with gusty northwest winds.

The northerly winds since the last significant storm (January 25) have damaged most snow above treeline. Many northerly slopes are far more scoured than typical for this time of year. Some northeasterly-facing spots that typically would hold deep drifts were deeply eroded by these winds. On southerly slopes where recent drifts have built, the slabs have undergone multiple melt-freeze cycles. We found horizontal ice lenses within the most recent drifts. Any avalanche on these southerly slopes is now unlikely. A week ago these same slopes were the most concerning. We planned to dig adjacent to an avalanche on a southerly slope from January 25-26, but a snowmobile had already tested the feature with no results. We did not travel on any cross-loaded east or west-facing slopes, but these might be the last remaining spots where you could trigger a hard slab avalanche.