Sawatch

Avalanche

John Mackinnon ยท Jan 5, 2016

View on map

Weather

Few clouds trending towards overcast in the afternoon, mild temperatures, light northerly winds at ridge-tops. Intermittent very light snowfall (S-1) around 1 pm.

Snowpack

I toured on N, E, and S aspects up to 12K. Overall I observed a shallow and weak snowpack on all aspects below treeline. Below treeline skiing was punchy and variable with no signs of a slab--even in wind exposed areas. Lots of surface facets (recycled powder) on all aspects and all elevations that I visited. I did observe a small surface hoar event in the valley bottom.

Avalanche

I observed 1 size 2 slab avalanche on a NE aspect above treeline. It looked over a week old. (My ski partner drove up from Summit on Hway 91 and said he observed several slab avalanches on E and NE aspects above treeline as well. My guess is that they are all from the late December cycle but I have been away for most of the month.)