Sawatch

Avalanche

Anonymous · Jan 20, 2019 · Sawatch

View on map

Weather

Increasing clouds, mild temperatures and light westerly winds.

Snowpack

Observed cracking in sheltered terrain below TL when breaking trail. Height of snow averaged 85 cm on north aspects below TL with ski penetration almost to the ground. A test pit at 11K on a north aspect revealed 25 cm of this week's storm snow resting on 60 cm of facets trending to depth hoar. Storm snow is F hard and trending to 4F near the interface with the uppermost faceted layer. Compression tests produced sudden collapses in the middle of the facet layer down ~40 cm (CTM (SC) x 2 on FC). Observed surface hoar on the surface in shady areas and also found a surface hoar layer down 15 cm. It will be interesting to monitor if the recent storm snow continues to settle into a slab in the coming days. Found a semi-supportive crust on SW aspect near TL. The riding was still "trap-door" with ski tips plunging through the new snow and crusts into the facets on lower angled slopes.

Avalanche

We did not observe any avalanches.