Sawatch
SnowpackRich Rogers · Jan 8, 2024 · Sawatch
Weather
BKN, felt cold all day, N winds were L-M along ridge NTL, on sheltered ridges, 100-200ft lower, winds were calm-light.
Snowpack
I was surprised when I found 68 and 79cm depths, NTL, on S and W aspects. Monarch Ski Area, within sight, reported 1" new today with 9" of total storm snow. I found newly drifted snow from 8-24" deep, soft-mod in hardness, NTL on NW-W-SW. Though on NE-E-S, surface snow seemed barely effected by the wind, with very soft-soft "slabs". Snowpack tests on E,S and W only showed weakness from compression within new snow or at the interface with old snow. Deeper layers were, (1F-P), hard and stubborn to unreactive during tests with no propagating results. I could not trigger even a small wind slab avalanches on drifted test slopes. Winds did pick up later in the day, so, those slabs may become harder overnight and connect more terrain features on specific aspects. Anticipating how next storms this week will interact with these new layers. Feels like it would take around .75-1" of SWE for old near surface layers to become reactive along with increase in avalanche size and a higher amount of SWE(>2.5") in a short time to potentially reactive the deep layers in this area.