Sawatch

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Dec 28, 2020 · Sawatch

Weather

Off and on light snow most of the day. About 2" of accumulation by 4 pm. It was snowing harder when I left. Winds were gusty but I didn't go to ridgetop to find out how much so.

Snowpack

Widespread, rolling collapses. The 4 inches of wind-driven snow from a week ago, that was drifted up to a foot, really connected a lot of terrain. Collapses are not just isolated to the terrain you are on. They travel and go on for a couple seconds. New snow today didn't change anything. It is likely to trigger avalanches on steep slopes and they will be large on easterly slopes that are wind loaded. I stayed away from anything over 30 degrees.---I wanted to look at southeast-facing slopes because we have seen a little less avalanche activity on this aspect. i found a snowpack that is just as bad as east with very weak snow above and below a crust that is buried at least a foot deep. I did not find any substantial crusts near the surface from the last few days of sun. I was on low-angle slopes though, so that could be different on steep slopes. ECTP9 on southeast, BTL, HS =70 cm and result down ~40cm