Sawatch
SnowpackPayton Schiff · Jan 13, 2023 · Sawatch
Weather
ATL, winds were moderate-strong from the NNW and precip was S1. BTL, winds were significantly calmer. Cold temps throughout the day and an OVC sky cover for most of the day, BKN later in the afternoon. There was definitely wind loading however as only about 1" of snow had fallen overnight and precip was no more than S1, the wind loading was fairly minimal. We did note however that there was signs of wind affect BTL on a SE aspect within moderately dense forest.
Snowpack
On a W aspect ATL, we dug a pit and found basal snow grains within 90cm of the 96cm snowpack. We found a P hard slab sitting on top of basal snow grains at 49-55cm however our instability tests did not yield results at this interface. We performed two CTs with the following results: CTV @ 22cm up and CT16 at 76cm up. We performed an ETC with the following results: ECTP21 @ 22cm up. We dug another pit BTL on a SE aspect where we found cohesionlessness and F hardness throughout. The HS for this pit was only 57cm and had basal snow grains up to 45cm. We also noted big propogating cracks BTL on SE aspects.