Sawatch
AvalancheAnonymous · Mar 16, 2023 · Sawatch
Snowpack
I dug on an east-facing slope on the way up and found a similar snowpack to as described in the avalanche narrative. A settled storm slab of about 35 cm that is now up to four-finger hard sitting on facets above a melt-freeze crust and larger facets below the crust. The snowpack below this is all faceted and soft. The snow height was 120 cm, also similar to the avalanche I triggered.
Avalanche
I remotely triggered a large avalanche from a 20-degree slope above the path. I felt a small collapse that seemed like it was just the snow around me collapsing and then looked over to see a small northeast-facing slope sliding. I looked over to the bigger east-facing path and saw a large powder cloud low in the path. The avalanche had propagated from a small northeast-facing slope for about 500 feet to the south and around an east-facing slope. The avalanche broke on facets on a melt-freeze crust below the storm snow from March 10th. The crown of the avalanche was 30 to 45 cm deep. As the avalanche ran, it stepped down and gouged to the ground. Debris piles were over 10 feet deep and small trees, about 8 inches in diameter were broken. The entrainment of older snow in this avalanche was impressive. If someone was caught in this avalanche, the chance of surviving would be slim.