Sawatch

Snowpack

Becs Hodgetts · Mar 22, 2020 · Sawatch

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Weather

Winds stayed light near treeline for us, but could see large plumes up high. Cloud cover and very light snow moved in and around us during the day. When the sun came out, snow instantly became sticky.

Snowpack

Below treeline east slopes were mostly supportive to skis by 11am. Boot pen to ground and average HS 60cm. As you move into NE near treeline terrain, HS is 80-100cm. 10cm of new snow sits on a 2cm thck 1F hard melt freeze crust. Below this the snowpack is facets to the ground. Surface snow became moist as the day went on. We punched through to the ground numerous times while skinning. Near treeline we observed two collapses one accompanied by thin cracking up slope in the surface snow (cracks ~ 10cm deep). North slopes were supportable to skis only if you were moving. I dug on a NE slope near treeline. ECTX. CT 20 SC at depth hoar.