Sawatch

Snowpack

Ethan Greene ยท Apr 16, 2013

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Weather

Lots of wind transport. It is hard to say how much is actually loading, but there was evidence of both previous and current transport. Cloudy skies and cool temperatures. Dust/dirt on the snow.

Snowpack

Lots of dirt on the snow surface and evidence of wind transport. Dirt, wind transport, and visibility made it difficult to observe old avalanche activity.</br></br> I saw several avalanches that probably released in the last 36hrs. Most were near treeline on E and NE aspects, but a few on NW. One large avalanche to the ground above treeline on NE aspect. Most, but not all, were wind-loaded areas. The most significant released near treeline on a face just above the highway and south of Delmonica Gulch. This avalanche was 1-3'x~200'x~900' SS-N-R3D2.