Sawatch
SnowpackScott Toepfer ยท Jan 4, 2011
Weather
Seemed pretty mild as we started up. At treeline it was 23 F & very light winds. From treeline up it got colder fast, & winds increased. Cold & windy, maybe wind chill of -20F at the summit. Some wind loading but not much left to transport. Winds increased after 12 noon. Impressive tailwind as we descended. Clouds also increased as we descended. We must have exited just in advance of the Tuesday evening short wave front. By the time we were back to Highway 91 all peaks were obscured.
Snowpack
Hard slab rules around here. Lots of drummy hollow sounds. Snow was so hard and dense everywhere we traveled above treeline (Where there was snow) you could not get a pole into it. A snow pit attempt would have broken shovels. The mountain looked like it had excellent coverage on the drive in, but there was much less snow then the previous 3 times I have climbed Elbert in the winter. On our way out we traversed the south facing side of the east ridge of Mt Elbert (below treeline). The snowpack here was a 2 inch thick breakable crust with about 1-2 feet of facets below that. Might be a problem with a big load, or come spring time melt cycles.