Sawatch

Avalanche

John Mackinnon · Jan 6, 2018 · Sawatch

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Weather

Overcast skies, moderate WSW winds, and airtemp of 0 C at 11,400 ft at 1:30 pm. Very light snow started around 1:30 PM and picked up slightly throughout the afternoon.

Snowpack

Toured in Buckeye Lake drainage. Observed a variable and shallow snowpack with lots of scouring at higher elevations and some melting on lower elevation sunny slopes. We did see some small near surface facets in sheltered areas on N, W, E aspects. Our group dug a profile at 11,400 feet on a west aspect. HS 51 cm. Snowpack largely consists of various forms of facets. Compression tests showed sudden test results down 25 cm---just below the 12/21 interface. ECTs showed no propagation.

Avalanche

We did not observe any recent avalanche activity.