Sawatch

Avalanche

John Snook ยท Jan 5, 2015

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Weather

Approximately 10cm of new snow Saturday afternoon. Moderate to strong westerly winds all day Sunday. Winds abated for a period Sunday night, but became moderate to strong again Monday morning. Frequent wind gusts estimated in the 40-50 mph range at hut elevation (11,300 feet) with occasional higher gusts. Significant snow transport through period near and above treeline.

Snowpack

Supportable snowpack on Saturday with soft surface snow - ski pen generally 20 cm. Winds near and above treeline on Sunday created stiff, but not fully supportable, wind slab on aspects from north through east to south. Some collapsing and cracking, but minimal propagation on Sunday. Average snow depth near treeline is 80 cm. Snowpack is becoming quite variable due to wind effects. Skied out trail Monday morning. Skin track was fully buried in places with occasional fully supportable wind slab. Westerly facing aspects above treeline are mostly stripped. In addition to the primary Persistent Slab problem, I think Wind Slab is temporarily back on the problem list.

Avalanche

None observed, although visibility was limited.