Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Jan 8, 2019 · Sawatch
Snowpack
A couple inches of snow did little to change the snowpack in sheltered terrain. The snowpack remains weak but slabs in the pack are composed of faceted crystals and do not show propagation propensity in tests.---In wind-exposed places there is a mix of surfaces scoured back to old icy layers and also some hard wind-drifted slabs that are continuous on easterly slopes.---I dug above a crown of a recent avalanche on south-facing slope near treeline. The slope was previously wind loaded about a week ago. The snow depth is 162 cm on this slope with the pack composed of layers of hard slab, thin crusts, and faceted layers. The avalanche was 2 to 3 feet deep and broke on layer of faceted crystals 65 cm from the ground.---I descended to the toe of the avalanche, about 200 vertical feet from the crown and dug on the same aspect but a less wind-loaded slope. The snow depth was 112 cm. I got hard propagating results on the same layer as the avalanche about 2 feet from the ground. This lower slope had a much weaker snowpack but also less of a slab. A future problem when loaded.---Overall the most dangerous places in this areas is easterly slopes near ridgetop where recent winds created large areas of hard slab.
Avalanche
Several small wind slab avalanches were observed from Mt Massive to the area that I traveled in today.