Sawatch

Avalanche

Jeremiah Primmer · Feb 24, 2022 · Sawatch

Weather

Windy and cold, above treeline the loading was ineffective but near treeline and below my tracks had filled in by the time I turned around.

Snowpack

I headed up towards Ptarmigan Lake off of Cottonwood Pass. I was surprised at the lack of natural avalanches. The cloud cover was in and out, but I got some good views and did not spot any crowns. Below the treeline, on easterlies and southeast-facing slopes, I got widespread cracking and collapsing. Most cracks were relatively short, but a couple reached 30’, failing on near-surface facets buried under the new storm snow or a thick melt/freeze crust. On a steep north-facing slope, I started a loose dry avalanche that entrained the facets under the new snow. The cracking and collapsing continued near the treeline, but I could not get any slope-wide collapses. Everywhere I dug, I found a very weak structure of 8”-15” of new snow sitting on top of fist minus hard facets that produced propagating results with light force.

Avalanche

One small intentionally trigger loose dry slide.