Sawatch
AvalancheAndrea Tupy Bo Torrey · Dec 1, 2020 · Sawatch
Weather
Cold with light snow, increasing in intensity NTL and above. Winds were light with moderate gusts from the north, northeast and northwest. Intermittent broken skies alternating with overcast conditions.
Snowpack
The snowpack is loose and faceting. No slab observed BTL. The areas we did observe a slab were isolated NE and E pockets that were wind affected from previous wind events. We did not find any slab reactivity. North aspects ATL and NTL, as well as all aspects BTL, were loose and faceted. We did not find too much middle ground for slab characteristics today. In places we found the slab it was Pencil hard and made for nice supportable riding with a few inches of facets and fresh now on top and in other areas there was almost no easily identifiable slab just a weak cohesion-less faceted layer that was 4F in hardness. From what we saw today, the areas where previously we were worried about triggering a Persistent Slab avalanche have now lost there cohesive slab characteristics due to the clear cold weather faceting the upper layers of the snowpack. ie. removal of a cohesive slab. On South aspects we did note a crust/facet combination with 2 to 3 inches of loose faceted snow sandwiched between 2 crusts of varying thickness and supportability.
Avalanche
No signs of avalanching observed