Sawatch
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · May 17, 2020 · Sawatch
Weather
Calm winds with just a light breeze at ridgetop. Very warm with thin cloud cover in the morning clearing by noon.
Snowpack
The snow surface thawed quickly on most aspects but on open slopes stayed supportable for most of the day. We were on an east-facing slope above treeline at 1 PM and the snowpack was very supportable with good corn conditions. Once we dropped to near treeline the snowpack became less supportable, our skis would dive into the snowpack and we avoided steep slopes at these lower elevations. Other terrain we avoided later in the day was above treeline rocky, thin steep areas.---Small rollerballs noted between 13,500 to 14k feet. The surface snow at these elevations has not transitioned to a melt-freeze regime yet and was newer snow that became moist today.