Sawatch

Avalanche

Justin Swantek · Feb 21, 2021 · Sawatch

Weather

Moderate to strong winds near and above treeline (15 G35 in the basin, likely much stronger on the ridge). Clear skies.

Snowpack

I didn’t observe any continuous slabs until roughly 10,600’, where some wind and/or sun effect created slabs within the new snow. These slabs felt very fragile and easily collapsed under my weight, cracking anywhere from 10-50’ wide. NTL, I observed 2 naturals on E facing slopes that likely happened in the last 24 hours (with how windy it was, the crowns became considerably less obvious in the course of only one hour). Generally, wherever I found snow consisting of more than just new snow, there were facets underneath. Slabs were not incredibly reactive, but there was a fair amount of whumpfing on SE-NE aspects. An E facing pit revealed moderate results (CT15 Q1 and ECTP22) failing on buried facets, though the slab in question varied greatly in strength and was not consistent across the slope. ATL, lots of snow was moving around. In this basin, SE-NE aspects were getting the most loading.

Avalanche

I observed 2 R1D2 natural (no tracks or any reason people would be there) avalanches in Baldwin Creek Basin, both on SE facing aspects NTL. Both likely went in the past 24 hours as the crowns looked fresh when I first observed them, though they quickly got covered by new snow from the strong winds (next time I'll get the picture on the way in!).