Sawatch
AvalancheSpencer Herford · Feb 1, 2023 · Sawatch
Weather
Clear with a light SW wind picking up a little in the afternoon. Out of the wind it was quite pleasant!
Snowpack
Went out to investigate what was going on with basal weak layers on some east facing terrain. I looked for a shallow spot on the backside of perfect trees into gondola bowl that was also safe to dig in. In my pit NTL on SE aspect HS 164cm, I dug to ground to see what was going on and found fist hard rounding depth hoar with 1F to P hard layers atop. The recent storm snow ranged from F to 4F. A deep tap test produced no results on the basal weak layer. I was alone so isolating a PST at the proper dimensions wasnt going to happen. A CT to test the upper snowpack showed easy-moderate failure about 25cm from the surface with sudden results. In my pit the upper snowpack was primarly wind broken DF, still pretty soft. I did find a few leeward areas in my travels on east facing terrain with a bit of a wind slab, but not as widespread as I thought it would be.
Avalanche
There is perhaps a small cornice fall in the NE chute of clover. I think I saw some sort of debris while driving, but there is no good vantage point of that unless you go up middle fork. I also saw a WL-N-R1-D1 near some rocks on Banana Mountain. SE NTL.