Sawatch

Snowpack

Bo Torrey, Jason Konigsberg · Feb 19, 2021 · Sawatch

Weather

Winds were strong during the drive up to St. Elmo. Large plumes of snow were visible from the valley however as we rode up towards Hancock the wind speeds were light with occasional gust and some minor wind transport. Looking up along the exposed ridge lines you could see more snow being transported. Mostly cloudy with occasional sunshine. Moderate temperatures in the mid 20's

Snowpack

Snow depths on north facing slopes near treeline were about 1.5 meters. As we wrapped around to west and southwest slopes the depth dropped closed to 1 meter. We consistently found weak faceted snow just above the ground with slabs varying in thickness above it. The potential to trigger avalanches exist on many aspects but today the most likely slopes were where wind was drifting additional snow onto slopes facing northeast, east or southeast.