Sawatch

Snowpack

Bo Torrey Andrea Tupy · Jan 24, 2021 · Sawatch

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Weather

The day was mostly overcast with light precipitation. Around noon the sky partially cleared for about 30 minutes and the sun came out allowing a few moments of visibility of the surrounding peaks and paths. Then the sky became overcast again and the snow intensity increased. Winds were light and not from a particular direction.

Snowpack

The southwest facing slopes below treeline were a mixed bag of 3 cm of sun crust on top of loose facets to a completely unsupportive snowpack comprised of loose and faceted snow. The snowpack became shallower and more sun crusted as you moved higher in elevation. We had a whumpf at about 10,700' that was localized and specific to terrain features. The east aspect below tree line was deeper with a 30 cm non-contiguous 4 finger to 1 finger slab over loose facets. The slab was more present in areas with an open tree canopy. It was supportive to skis but boot pen was to the ground. No signs of instability on east aspects. PST 30/100 end 70 cm down on 2mm facets.