Gunnison

I have documented a few recent Wet Loose avalanches on sunny terrain and one old slab avalanche on the east side of Mineral Point.

We observe periodic flagging off the highest terrain from north winds. Warm temperatures wetted the snow surface on sunny terrain features at mid and low elevations. cloud cover: clear; wind loading: light; recent snowfall (cm): 0; snow avail for transport: small smounts

We traveled through northerly terrain up to 11,000 feet, intending to investigate the crown of a remote triggered slide from last Saturday, 1/10.  The snowpack where that avalanche failed was generally a meter deep or less.  The weak layer formed during the December drought and consisted of fist+ hard facets 2mm in size.  This slide occurred above the Christmas rain line. We dug a profile a few hundred feet lower with less wind effect and found a slightly deeper snowpack.  At this location, the December drought layer is capped by the Christmas Crust.  The facets below the crust showed signs of rounding and a slight increase in hardness as compared to the crown profile higher above.  I suspect the slightly deeper snowpack at the lower, more sheltered spot was just deep enough to see an improvement in the weak layer. Surface hoar is present below about 10,000 feet on shaded slopes in this area.