Sawatch
SnowpackAndrea Tupy · Apr 16, 2021 · Sawatch
Weather
Only about an inch fell the night before at the highway level with no snow upon approach. It started snowing lightly around 11. The skies were partly cloudy with periods of sun and S-1 snow with light NW winds below and near treeline. Above treeline the wind gusts were more westerly and picked up a little with gusts in the teens.
Snowpack
New snow was only an inch at the bottom and up to 4" in sheltered areas at 11,000'. Above treeline new snow varied between an inch and a foot depending on wind loading. I dug two pits, one on NE below treeline and one more northerly near treeline. See pit diagrams for detailed information. Both pits had multiple small layers of moist snow near the surface with a melt freeze crust below the most recent storm snow. Below that was a solid midpack on top of basel facets that was building strength below 39 cm. Below treeline ice channels were observed above 79cm. The snowpack was supportive and did not exhibit any signs of instability while skiing or skinning. The top 10 cm were becoming moist on sunny aspects after 1 pm on all elevations and was bonding well with the old snow. Shady areas below treeline were still dry however. Above treeline the snow cover varied from bare ground to small pockets of wind loaded storm snow, isolated to terrain features, that were dry, low density and up to 30 cm deep.