Sawatch

Avalanche

John Mackinnon ยท Jan 5, 2017

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Weather

Obscured skies, light to moderate snow, light westerly winds above TL and chilly temperatures. Airtemp at the TH of 12F at 2 pm. We did not observe any blowing snow.

Snowpack

We found 45 cm of storm snow resting on the recently buried facet layer. Storm snow was not that cohesive (F to 4F-) in below and near TL areas we visited. Above TL, the storm snow was a bit stiffer and we did get some minor localized cracking and collapsing. On a west aspect below TL, soft storm slabs popped on the facets with hand shears but the slab did not hold together.

Avalanche

We did not observe any avalanches but we did have limited visibility.