Sawatch

Snowpack

Anonymous · Dec 14, 2021 · Sawatch

View on map

Weather

Windy up high with snow blowing but not effective loading. Calm and warm below treeline

Snowpack

Short trip below treeline on northerly slopes. Skinning up hill, I was mostly punching through the snowpack through a soft 25 cm slab and than about 50 cm of facets beneath. The weakest snow is directly below the slab from last week's snow. I found isolated wind drifts, that I was able to collapse, but I did not get any avalanches even traveling over upper 30 degree slopes. These drifts are not connected across any distance and if I were to trigger an avalanche, it would have been about 10 to 20 feet wide.