Sawatch

Avalanche

John Mackinnon ยท Jan 7, 2017

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Weather

Overcast skies with high thin clouds, light westerly winds, and cool temperatures.

Snowpack

We toured on a variety of aspects below TL in the California Gulch area. HS averaged 80-90 cm in areas unaffected by wind and sun. On steep south and southwest aspects, the storm snow is settling rapidly and resting on a stout melt-freeze crust that formed during the dry spell. The bottom half of the snowpack on those slopes consists of large faceted grains. Our group dug several test profiles on NW aspects below TL. We found 45-50 cm of recent storm snow resting on a progressively faceting snowpack. December storm snow which had previously shown rounding is beginning to facet. The bottom 15-20 cm of the snowpack consists of large facets (2-3 mm) that have seen some previous rounding. Formal and informal snowpack tests revealed a few mid-storm instabilities that are beginning to bond. Compression tests did show repeatable sudden test results on the basal facets. We also observed small facets forming on the surface of the snow.

Avalanche

We did not observe any avalanche activity.