Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Jan 3, 2025 · Sawatch
Weather
Clear, warm, and windy
Snowpack
The snowpack on east-facing slopes at the upper end of BTL and NTL is 125 to 145 cm deep. We dug on an east-facing slope at 11,500 feet and found a snowpack 143 cm deep. The slab consists of 60 cm of progressively harder snow. Above the weak layer (at 85 cm from the ground) the slab is one-finger hard. See the attached photo for more info. We got a result of ECTP22 on the fist-hard facets that were buried on December 9th. Although this test indicates that is may be more difficult to initiate a crack in the weak layer, our constantly rumbling collapses prove that human-triggering is still likely. I feel confident if we descended a 35 to 40-degree east-facing slope, we would have triggered a large avalanche.
Avalanche
A small avalanche released on an east-facing slope at ridgetop as we stood on the ridge. This was from wind loading. It was a small slope but broke into deeper layers. There were a handful of avalanches we saw around Mt Elbert and Mt Massive as we drove south, but it was too dark for good pictures or an accurate accounting.