Gunnison

Poor visibility

Light to moderate snowfall this morning. As we were leaving around 2 p.m., heavy snowfall (S5) was falling, creating whiteout conditions. Light drifting where we traveled, evidence of wind transport from southerly winds last night near ridgetop. cloud cover: overcast; wind loading: previous; rain elevation (ft): Nope; recent snowfall (cm): 20; snow avail for transport: large amounts

About 18" to 24" of settled storm snow since Tuesday (2/17), maybe 6" or 8" overnight.  Snow appeared to be bonding well to thick, uniform crusts on steep southerlies; thinner, more collapsible crusts exist on low-angle terrain and behind tree shadows.  . We traveled mostly on previously set skin tracks, mature timber, and low elevation southerlies, where I wouldn't expect signs of instability. I hunted for a collapse on one north -facing clearing and got a large one with some hard stomping.