Sawatch
SnowpackKreston Rohrig · Dec 23, 2024 · Sawatch
Weather
Fairly calm day with a slight westerly breeze at ridgeline. Clouds were building throughout the day, with no precipitation.
Snowpack
For the most part, the snowpack is faceted top-to-bottom. On a couple of southeast-facing slopes where a thin sun crust had formed, I got some minor collapses, showing that once we get a new slab, many slopes will be dangerous. I dug a pit on a north-facing slope around 11800' and found a barely supportable mid-pack slab that was supportable to skis, but not boots. Even though there are some harder layers (based on the hand hardness scale), each layer I found was composed of faceted grains. Though this area was below a ridge and showed signs of previous wind-loading, I found no intact slabs. Looking around the range, I would guess there are harder slabs in certain features or on isolated slopes, but the problem is not widespread.