Sawatch

Avalanche

Jason Konigsberg, Ethan Greene · Feb 28, 2021 · Sawatch

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Weather

Clear skies, no wind, and cool.

Snowpack

We traveled below treeline on sleds and found a barely supportable snowpack. If we kept the sleds fairly centered and straight we were able to stay on top of the snowpack. Anytime we turned we would gouge through the faceting slab into facets beneath. The slab is about a foot thick and losing strength from faceting. Beneath this is mostly fist hard facets and depth hoar. I got one collapse in a flat meadow with shooting cracks.---Down canyon there is very little snow coverage. South-facing below treeline slopes are bare and northerly-facing slopes are wind-swept and thin. Once you get to Winfield snow coverage is better and there is consistent snow coverage near and above treeline on most slopes except ones that were wind scoured.

Avalanche

We observed a few avalanches most of which were probably at least a week old. One avalanche on a north-facing slope off of Middle Mountain looked a bit fresher.