Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg, Ethan Greene · Dec 9, 2022 · Sawatch
Weather
Clouds increased in the afternoon with a couple of snow flurries. Winds were light and we did not observe any snow transport. Temperatures were in the teens at 12k feet. The snowpack is a consistent 85 to 100 cm deep near treeline.
Snowpack
The Cottonwood Pass area looks and feels different than what you would typically find in early December in three ways- It is supportable, snow coverage is consistent, and the snowpack is deeper than normal at this time. The snowpack is supportable to skis even through open meadows with thick willows underneath. We did not explore off trail with the snowmobiles, but tracks from others show deep trenches and it is easy for sleds to cut through the slab. We dug on several different aspects and found a thick, cohesive slab that is one-finger hard at the interface with the November drought facets and crusts. On east and northeast-facing slopes, the slab is 45 cm thick in non-drifted areas. On southerly slopes, the slab is 30 to 35 cm. On all aspects the slab rests on weak, faceted snow but the slab is much more continuous on north and easterly slopes. We got propagating results in Extended Column Tests with moderate to hard to force. In our tests, on east and northeast-facing slopes, cracks propagated in a layer of faceted crystals sandwiched between two crusts at 25 to 35 cm from the ground.
Avalanche
We observed five avalanches around the Cottonwood Pass area. It is hard to know the date that they ran. Two of these five avalanches were large (D2).