Sangre de Cristo
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Jan 4, 2019 · Sangre de Cristo
Weather
I didn't get up to ridgetop but winds were calm at the elevations I traveled. No evidence of any wind drifting at the highest peaks.
Snowpack
Thin. At the lower elevations I traveled new storm snow sat on bare ground. Above about 10,500 ft about 18 in sheltered areas over basal facets on shady aspects. Still bare ground on sunny aspects. Above 11k I found a few isolated pockets with wind-drifted slabs up to 140 cms depth.---Below treeline is thin and in general there is not enough coverage for avalanches.---Above 11k feet widespread collapsing as recent storm snow sits on top of very weak depth hoar. Even though collapsing was frequent the snow height in the area I was in was only deep enough to produce avalanches where wind drifted.---Above treeline is thin as well with not many areas of continuous coverage. See photos for coverage and description.---I dug on a northwest slope at 11,400 feet. I found a drifted terrain feature with a 130 cm snow depth. Two out of three extended column tests were ECTPV. The recently deposited slab (about 50 cm) popped out as depth hoar collapsed beneath a thin crust directly below the slab. (see snowpit)---I was not able to get as much snowpit data as I would have liked but from what I saw the snowpack in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains is awful. The above average snowfall in November is now mostly depth hoar. Recent slabs sit on top of this easily collapsible structure. The only thing that is keeping this zone from a Considerable danger presently is the lack of coverage and the lack of slab continuity. A lot of southerly slopes may have melted back to ground during the December dry spell. It was hard to discern the last weeks loading patterns but I think the southeast winds during the storm were the primary driver loading snow onto westerly slopes. It didn't seem like recent northerly winds had much of an impact.
Avalanche
Overall very little avalanche activity noted on the west side of the range.