Sawatch
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Mar 18, 2018 · Sawatch
Weather
Clear skies in the morning with increasing clouds throughout the day. No precipitation. Winds were light with a few moderate gusts at ridgetop. No snow transport at all.
Snowpack
Solid freeze of snow surface on sunny slopes. On above-treeline, east-facing slopes, a 3 inch-hard wind slab sits over a softer snow layer. Traveling over the slab it felt hollow and sounded "drummy" but no cracking or collapsing of the hard slab. On a lower down terrain feature I observed some minor cracking in wind-drifted snow. No other signs of instability and in general there is just a few inches of snow over a variety of hard surfaces.