Sawatch

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Dec 16, 2019 · Sawatch

Weather

Cold with light winds near treeline to keep things bitter. Small plumes noticed off of the high peaks. The sun popped out at times but high peaks were obscured most of the day.

Snowpack

I traveled on westerly slopes from about 10k to 12k through below treeline and near treeline elevation bands. I did not experience any thundering collapses today which was quite surprising given the snowpack structure. The snowpack structure on westerlies doesn't look too much different from shady slopes, except shallower. With numerous probes of my ski pole, I found weak snow at the ground. This was confirmed in a quick snow pit on a near-treeline southwest-facing slope. Fist hard depth hoar rests under a ~50cm slab of recent snow. I didn't do any long column tests but a quick compression test resulted in a sudden collapse on the depth hoar. The slab is the most consistent on westerly slopes below treeline and into the near treeline elevation band. Once you get above treeline you get into a really thin snowpack with not much of a continuous slab.