Sawatch

Avalanche

Travis Colbert ยท Jan 13, 2014

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Weather

Mostly cloudy, breezy with light snow.

Snowpack

Fresh snow (12 inches) on top of unsupportable faceted base. Lots of collapsing and cracking observed while ascending.

Avalanche

Remotely triggered from 100 yards away two simultaneous slides from a convex ridge feature at 11,600 feet while ascending. Slides occurred in east-facing 30-35 degree bowls on either side of the ridge feature we were ascending. Crown was approximately 2-3 feet deep and slid to the ground on faceted snow. Turned around at this point and began descending back to the car, carefully choosing our descent route. Remotely triggered another slide at about 11,000 feet in a small, east-facing concave terrain feature. This also slid to the ground on faceted snow.