Gunnison

Avalanche Information

Good visibility! The Ruby Range experienced a natural cycle of soft slabs involving the new and drifted snow over the weekend, typically D1.5 to D2 in size. Yesterday's wind event has obscured some of the evidence and makes it difficult to pin down exact avalanche details. I did not see any step-down avalanches that involved layers deeper than the 1/23 storm interface.

Weather

Weekend HST varied from 1' to 3' depending on how it was redistributed by winds. I estimate an average of 20" of settled storm snow. Some light wind drifting on a few alpine features continued today. cloud cover: clear; wind loading: previous

Snowpack

The recent snow (~30 to 90 cm, depending on drifting patterns) is still typically fist to fist+ hard, with stiffer slabs in leeward terrain. The 1/23 interface consists of a thin, collapsible crust over facets on SE aspects and a thicker (3-4 cm, pencil hard) crust over facets on steep south aspects. Stability tests on steep south aspects produced non-propagating results in mid-storm density changes. See pit photos. . Several large collapses (propagating ~50') and a handful of small collapses (propagating ~10'), failing about 2 feet deep. These fit the same pattern: freshly windloaded slopes where the buried 1/23 meltfreeze crust was thin and collapsing into weak facets below, either on SE aspects or low angle S aspects.

Photos (21)

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