Sawatch

Avalanche

Jeremy Primmer · Dec 24, 2021 · Sawatch

Weather

Snowed all day mostly S-1 but periods of S-2 to S-3. Moderate to strong winds at ridgelines with lots of active loading.

Snowpack

I found a very touchy snowpack, even below the treeline I was getting shooting cracks and collapsing everywhere. I saw a small D1-R1 natural from the trailhead that ran on the new and old snow interface, well below the treeline. There was about 10” of new snow at the trailhead but closer to 20” near the treeline. Once I got to the treeline I was getting booming collapses and shooting cracks on the order of hundreds of feet. I was able to trigger a collapse that propagated up both sides of a gully feature and ran for at least 500’ , releasing a couple very small slides. I dug a pit at the upper end of the treeline on a northeast face and found 1cm preserved surface hoar under 50 cm of snow that propagated with moderate force in an ECT. I stayed on very conservative terrain and the visibility was limited but I’m sure if the visibility was better I would have seen more natural activity. I did not go above the treeline.

Avalanche

I saw one natural BTL and triggered a couple remotely NTL. Even though shooting cracks were propagating hundreds of feet sometimes the blocks would just slide a couple of inches.