Sawatch

Avalanche

Anonymous · Nov 15, 2024 · Sawatch

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Observation photo 1Observation photo 2Observation photo 3

Weather

Not very wind NTL and BTL. Very windy ATL. It was hard to stand up. There was drifting snow at 13k feet and above. It looked erratic and for the most part not effectively loading. Obviously, by the observed avalanche, there were some areas of effective loading.

Snowpack

I didn't dig on northerly aspects. I poked around a few southeast-facing slopes near treeline to check out the snow surface. The snowpack is very thin on these slopes at about ~20 cm. There is a thin crust on the surface capping a thin layer of facets below.

Avalanche

The avalanche was viewed from a distance so it is hard to know what it broke on. It looks like the avalanche broke widely around several terrain features and stepped into older snow layers.