Sawatch
AvalancheJohn Mackinnon · Jan 10, 2016 · Sawatch
Weather
SCT skies trending to FEW. Inversion in town but warmed nicely above 11K in the afternoon. Calm winds even above TL.
Snowpack
Explored a variety of aspects and elevations. Most north aspects below TL fully faceted with HS averaging 60 cm. In wind exposed areas we did experience minor cracking. Upon further investigation we found an older buried slab (10 cm of 1F snow) resting on 50 cm of FC and DH. The slab was discontinuous and was starting to facet out. On S aspects near TL there was some wind affected snow and moderate cracking below the ridge-top. Once we skied off the initial wind pillow the snow became weak, shallow and bottomless. Skied steeper SW aspects above TL later in the day. A member of our group kicked off a small soft slab about 25 feet below the ridge-top. The avalanche released a small isolated pocket of wind-drifted snow that was sitting on a crust. Also observed a wide-spread surface hoar on all aspects and elevations visited except southerlies. We even saw SH up to 12K on a west aspect. A rime event has also occurred in the last 12-24 hours with rime present up to 12K.
Avalanche
~35 degree SW aspect above TL--SS-ASu-R1-D1-I