Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Apr 26, 2024 · Sawatch
Weather
Squalls of graupel and breezy winds followed by brief periods of sun, heat, and calm winds. Normal spring conditions.
Snowpack
New snow of about 4 inches sits on top of a thin and soft melt-freeze crust with wet snow beneath. The crust was supportable to skis and ski penetration was shallow. Boot penetration was through the crust at lower elevations with boot pen decreasing in depth (the crust became more supportable) as I gained elevation. The new snow quickly became moist on all aspects near and below treeline, and most aspects above treeline. The snow on northerly-facing slopes above treeline (more like above 12,500 ft) was staying dry and winterlike. Previous winds drifted the snow on these northerly slopes into unreactive slabs up to 30 cm thick. Without signs of instability in the drifted snow, it seemed the main avalanche problem for Friday was small Loose Wet avalanches. This was minimal though, and avalanche conditions were generally safe where I traveled. On east-facing above treeline slopes, the newly formed portion of the cornice was very sensitive and it was easy to break off refrigerator-sized chunks. When these chunks hit the slope below, they would entrain moist snow, running as very small wet avalanches until arresting due to shallow slope angle. On sustained easterly slopes over 40 degrees, I would think it would be easy to trigger long running loose wet avalanches.---Also on east-facing above treeline slopes, the snow is quite wet beneath the upper crusts down to 60 cm from the surface where there is a hard, dustier layer. I’m surprised we didn’t see more gouging wet avalanches or wet slabs in the past week on this layer as there is a distinct hardness difference and water had pooled there at some point.---Looking towards the incoming snow- it looks like the new snow should bond well with these moist snow surfaces. Maybe less so if there is clearing on Friday night and slicker crusts from before snow starts to fall.
Avalanche
One small avalanche that broke as a thin slab below the cornice and then ran as wet loose entraining moist storm snow.