Sawatch
AvalancheMichael Tranovich · Apr 19, 2023 · Sawatch
Weather
Started mostly sunny 28F. Progressed to mostly cloudy with intermittent snow by the late morning. Winds from the SW.
Snowpack
Surface froze overnight. Very hard, supportable to skis and mostly to boot as well. Depth extremely variable from bare to deep wind drifts. Dug a pit before the first small pitch at around 12100 feet. Definitely wind drifted, depth was 195cm while the ridge was bare. 2 knife hard ice layers around 20cm and 30cm below the snow surface. Another knife hard ice layer around 70cm from ground. Snow was pretty uniform under the upper ice layers. Facets remaining at ground to 40cm. Some minor collapsing and cracking in wind drifted snow near and below treeline.
Avalanche
North facing steep rocky terrain Sacremento creek drainage. Near treeline. Observed a couple of very small natural R1D1 loose wet releases from near rocks, likely at least a few days old during the previous warming.