Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Jan 18, 2020 · Sawatch
Weather
Mostly cloudy with filtered sunshine through the thin clouds. There were times of thicker cloud cover and S-1 snowfall rates with little accumulation. Winds were calm below treeline with gusts 10 to 20 near ridgetop. Not much snow was moving as far I could see but visibility was not great.
Snowpack
The snowpack is generally thinner than other parts of the Sawatch which seems to be the norm for this area. A snowpit dug on a southeast facing, near treeline slope had a snow depth of 105 cm. The weakest layer was 55 cm from the ground which was 1-2 mm facets. An extended column test produced hard propagating results on this layer. Weaknesses in the upper snowpack did not propagate in an ECT. The most upper weakness buried under about 6 inches of four-finger hard snow and a knife-hard wind-packed layer, repeatedly failed in a compression test. Overall, this area, and much of the surrounding Sawatch zone, received only small amounts of snow from this storm and the previous storm around Jan 9th. With that being said, I would still treat any easterly, ridgetop wind-loaded slope with caution. Non wind-affected slopes are relatively safe.
Avalanche
No avalanches observed in the area that I was in. No views of surrounding mountains with low vis.