Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Feb 27, 2020 · Sawatch
Weather
Windy with a mix of sun and clouds
Avalanche
I went up to look at the recent avalanche in Question Mark Bowl. It was much larger than expected. Deep debris filled the gully and ran to the beginning of the flat about 800 feet from the road. It was surprising how much debris there was as only about half of the start zone of Question Mark Bowl released. The avalanche was likely triggered by intense wind loading on Monday or Tuesday. The deepest portion of the crown looked to be about 10 feet deep with a good portion of the crown much shallower averaging 2 to 3 feet deep. It looks like the avalanche broke initially on faceted snow beneath the snow from our big storm on February 6 and 7. As it ran, it gouged down to the ground in places and entrained significant amounts of snow. The lookers left portion of the start zone had a small avalanche but was generally intact. It looks like recent winds have left the lookers left, very thin and without much of a slab. I dug near the crown where it wrapped around towards the lookers right trees and where the slope was sheltered from previous wind loading. The snow depth was about 150 cm. The crown was 2 feet thick in this area. I did not get any propagating results in an extended column test.