Sawatch
SnowpackJohn Mackinnon · Dec 28, 2017 · Sawatch
Weather
Clear Skies, moderate westerly winds, observed air temperature of -3.5 C at 12:30 pm.
Snowpack
Very shallow to non-existent coverage on Denny Creek trail until 10,200 ft. Observed an average HS of 60-70 cm on N and NE aspects from 10,500 ft to 11,200 ft in the trees. Dug a test profile at 11,200 on a small roll that tilted to the WSW in an open area. HS: 70 cm. The top 30 cm was recent storm snow from the Christmas storm series (12/21-12/25). The bottom 40 cm was a mix of facets and depth hoar in a variety of shapes and sizes. The Christmas storm is right-side up (F hard trending to 4F) and is resting on a F hard layer of 1.0 mm buried surface facets down ~30 cm. Compression tests produced repeated "sudden drops" on 2.0 mm facets down just below the buried surface facet layer. (CTM (SC) x 2 on 2.0 mm FCxr). An extended column test also showed propagation on this same layer. (ECTP 14 x 1 on 2.0 mm FCxr). Of note, I did observe that much of the steeper open terrain in that area had previously "cracked" naturally and looked like it had started gliding motion.