Sawatch

Snowpack

Anonymous · Dec 11, 2021 · Sawatch

Weather

Windy and cool. It felt warm in the sun but not that fun at ridgetop in the wind.

Snowpack

This area did not get much recent snow. In non wind affected areas, which is all of BTL, there is no slab and very little chance of triggering an avalanche. There is about 6 inches of recent snow sitting on anywhere from 6 to 18 inches of various forms of facets. The snowpack is still cohesionless below treeline. Once I got near treeline I was able to get small shooting cracks but no audible whumpfs. The shooting cracks were much more prevalent on northerly slopes, but still they had to have a wind-drifted slab. I did not experience cracking on wind-drifted east-facing near treeline slopes. The wind drifting near and above treeline at ridgetop was moderate. The top section of the slopes, right below ridgetop, was receiving wind drifted snow, but other than that there was just a thin wind skin mid slope. Northerly slopes have decent coverage near treeline but other than that it still really thin. There is a lot of brush and other ground obstacles poking up through the snow.