Sawatch
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Apr 16, 2025 · Sawatch
Weather
I was in the doughnut hole with threatening clouds to the east and west of me. It was mostly sunny with a light westerly breeze.
Snowpack
As I ascended and descended, there was the occasional small crack and collapse in thin areas on southerly slopes. Still, the snowpack was overall supportable despite being moist throughout. As mentioned above, there was a stark difference in wet and dry surfaces from due east to northeast and north above treeline. The upper 5cm was wet on east, but not draining as aggressively as it had been previously. I skied dry snow down to 11700' on a north aspect, and found very little water had percolated into the snowpack once I reached lower elevations. East aspects near treeline that have not refrozen as deeply as upper elevations are the most suspect slopes in my opinion, especially where there is significant dust on the surface or where rocky terrain is aiding the meltwater flowing into the snowpack.
Avalanche
There was very little recent avalanche activity. I observed a few small Wet Loose avalanches and a possible Cornice Fall/Wet Loose avalanche that likely occurred last week.