Sawatch

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg, Ben Pritchett · Dec 5, 2018 · Sawatch

Weather

Near treeline and slightly above, winds were 10 to 20 mph. On the high peaks of the Sawatch near Elbert, the winds looked much stronger and it looked as if winds were effectively loading above treeline slopes.

Snowpack

We performed a quick ECT on a south-facing, above-treeline slope and got propagated results with shoulder blows on a layer of facets above a melt-freeze crust. We also got a propagating result while isolating the column about 8 inches down from the surface underneath recently wind-drifted snow. The melt-freeze layer in the lower snowpack is very thin and fragile. Different than the thick crust I observed near Fremont Pass yesterday. The wind-drifted slab would be hard to trigger but any triggered avalanche on a wind-loaded south-facing slope would be large. Tests show the sensitivity of the persistent slab problem on south-facing slopes is stubborn and not reactive like we are seeing on east and northeast.---A quick hand pit on a north-facing road cut showed a fully faceted snowpack with no slab.----Southeast quarter slopes near ridgetop have thick slabs of wind-drifted snow.