Gunnison

Intermintent sunshine, light winds, and unusually warm temperatures. cloud cover: broken; wind loading: none; snow avail for transport: none

We selected this short tour to gather another data point on westerly-facing terrain before the incoming storms.  West slopes transition from a fully dry, faceted snowpack on the shadiest aspects (270-292 degrees) and supportive-to-skis crusts at the surface as you near the border of west and southwest aspects (around 250 degrees).  We dug a profile on a due west slope (270 degrees) and found a thin, 1cm, melt-freeze crust capping a mostly faceted snowpack.  This pattern similarly matches the surface conditions encountered on east aspects in recent days.