Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Jan 6, 2023 · Sawatch
Weather
Overcast with short bursts of snow. There was some wind as the snow squalls moved through but in general I did not observe much wind loading. About an inch of new snow.
Snowpack
This area did not get the snow totals like many western areas of the state during the holiday storm. From 12/24 to present the snowpack has increased about 10 inches in depth. Below treeline the snowpack is still very soft throughout. Trailbreaking is awful as the snowpack is unsupportable. The snow depth is generally around 70 cm on the easterly slopes I traveled. Near treeline, the snow height increases slightly. The snowpack structure consists of 25 to 30 cm of snow from the last two weeks over an unreactive faceted layer that formed around Christmas, over a 20 cm one-finger hard faceted slab that is the snow that fell in early December. All of this rests of our basal facets. I got ECTP18 results and some slopewide whumpfs but no avalanches. Interestingly I did not get any big whumpfs when I broke trail, and only as I went up for a second lap, using the same skintrack, was I able to get the larger collapses. I also dug on some southerly near treeline slopes. I found a thin snowpack with about 70 cm of snow. On a due south aspect, the basal facets were from 0 cm to 15 cm above the ground- a thinner layer than on easterlies. South-facing slopes had a thin melt-freeze crust beneath the one inch of new snow.
Avalanche
Visibility wasn't great but I only say one avalanche