Sawatch

Avalanche

Chris Pruden · Feb 25, 2017 · Sawatch

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Weather

Overcast skies with blowing snow at ridge top for most of our tour. Winds were primarily out of the southwest. No precipitation. Temps stayed near ten degrees F.

Snowpack

Obvious wind loading on lee aspects. Snowpit test produced sudden planar results on a layer of small grained facets 60 cm down (CTM 16). Pit was dug at 11,500 on a NW aspect. No other signs of instability.

Avalanche

Small test slopes facing N-E produced very small windslab avalanches and shooting cracks at ridge-top (11,800).