Sawatch

Snowpack

Ian Hoyer · Apr 4, 2015 · Sawatch

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Weather

Beautiful bluebird day. Slight cloud development in late afternoon. A brownish haze in the far south over the Sangre's (dust?). Strong winds out of the W-SW. Hot at the trailhead in the afternoon, wind kept temperatures down ATL.

Snowpack

Stout crusts on almost all slopes. Only exception was one N slope ATL, which still had a dry snowpack (heavily wind affected), no reactive snowpack tests. Recent snow has settled to 1-3". Warm temperatures with cold surface snow made for perfect skin-glopping conditions, glad I had the skin wax with me. Top 3-4 inches had melted NTL & BTL when I descended at 2pm. Winds kept ATL slopes cold. Dramatic sun affects on S-facing slopes NTL, heating up very quickly, lots of bare ground.