Sawatch
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Apr 1, 2021 · Sawatch
Weather
Light winds at ridgetop. No wind loading observed. Warm day but it didn't feel hot. Temps reached 40 degrees at 11.790 ft (Mt Zion) at 1 PM. This looked to be the high for the day.
Snowpack
We dug on a southeast-facing below-treeline slope and found a shallow snowpack with numerous hard crusts. The surface curst was 17 cm thick. At 11 AM just the top 1 or 2 cm of snow was moist. No rollerballs observed. No future wet slab concerns with this particular structure unless the entire snowpack became saturated and cohesionless. On southeast near treeline the surface snow was still dry and wintry. Hard wind-packed layers exist beneath recent snow. We found a shallow, only about 120 cm, on north aspect near treeline. Above treeline the snowpack is much deeper with hard slabs near the surface and mid-pack. No cracking or signs of instability were observed while skiing over recently formed hard slabs near ridgetop. On our exit at 2 PM, the snowpack was till very supportable and moist snow was limited to just the top few inches. Due north slopes are staying cold and dry at all elevations. With clear skies and temps dropping into the twenties another solid surface freeze is expected.