Sawatch

Avalanche

Ben Pritchett · Feb 6, 2019 · Sawatch

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Weather

Full blizzard conditions.

Snowpack

Wind Slab concerns grew throughout the day as storm snow accumulated and drifted on easterly slopes. Drifts averaged about 16 inches deep, up to about 30 inches deep on efficiently drifted spots. A thin layer of facets buried about a foot down was touchy, producing localized cracking on west and east aspects below a thin crust. On drifted easterly slopes, triggering will be likely in the coming days given this very weak faceted layer. On a southeast aspect, the storm snow fell on a very firm, virtually impenetrable crust. Hurt my toe when I kicked it. The new snow sluffed off on this crust, but didn't propagate.

Avalanche

Triggered a few loose dry avalanches in the storm snow on northerly terrain and small wind slabs on a drifted easterly slope