Sawatch

Snowpack

Brandon Levy · May 3, 2018 · Aspen

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Weather

At 1030 temp at horseshoe was 24F which began to quickly increase after midday to 31F when we left at 1400. M NNW winds with steady S1. Some sun breaks just starting to appear around 1400

Snowpack

8" HST over the dust / crust 11900'. HST seems stuck on to the rough crust for the moment but that may change with warming and the HST sliding off the dust layer. Crust below is supportable to boots but I don't think it will take much to break it down esp if the dust is exposed again. With the HST and the crust acting as the slab an ECT propagated on the wet layer of polycrystals below the crust but the column immediately glued back onto the underlying block. Snowcat trundling over the edge of waterhole grade triggered several small SSa with those in shallow cliffy terrain stepping down and pulling older snow.