Sawatch

Snowpack

Becs Hodgetts · Jan 7, 2018 · Sawatch

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Weather

Traveled in clouds most of tour, not great visibility above treeline. Although temps were moderate, wind kept conditions chilly.

Snowpack

Plenty of snow blowing around near treeline, drifting into very soft, reactive slabs. Easy to trigger as you approached small wind formed features. V.Easy results in CT and propagation in ECT on 2cm (F) facet layer (formed 3rd week in Decenber?) 56cm from surface. Triggered a small slide when ski cutting a drifted slope near rocks. Many shooting cracks and collapses observed as we traveled through near treeline terrain. Had the appearance of a shattered slab, just not steep enough to move. All noted instabilities were at the new/old snow interface, not layer (@56cm) producing results in snowpack tests.