Sawatch
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Nov 4, 2018 · Sawatch
Weather
Snow showers throughout the day with snow beginning to intensify at 3 PM at the end of our tour. We were on a fairly sheltered ridge and did not observe and wind loading.
Snowpack
On north slopes we observed an upper to mid snowpack of right-side-up storm snow from late October to present bonded well to a melt-freeze crust. The lower snowpack below the crust is problematic as a collapsible layer of 1-2 mm, fist-hard facets sit directly below the crust. ECTP23 on this the faceted layer. The overall snow depth is about 20 inches and the faceted layer of most concern is about 4 inches from the ground. Disconcerting to see the higher scores in an ECT as the crust may be capable of holding a larger load and producing larger avalanches with continued snowfall.--- Also of note, we did not experience any significant collapsing or cracking. Regardless, with the structure, we avoided all north through east steep terrain.