Sawatch
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Nov 29, 2018 · Sawatch
Weather
Nice day around Turquoise Lake. Obscured sky at times but also a few bouts of sun. No new snow. Looking up at above treeline ridges near Galena Mtn there was no visible wind loading.
Snowpack
Went out on a day off with my snowmobile. I got off trail and spent most of the day digging out the machine. I got a good feel for the snowpack while digging out the snowmobile 15 to 20 times. Mostly flat areas but a similar snowpack to what I saw near Fremont Pass yesterday. A 12 to 18 inch thick mostly one-finger hard slab rests on a fist hard layer of facets in the middle of the pack. This layer is by far the most concerning compared to harder faceted layers below. Sudden planar fracture character in unorthodox shovel tests. Bottom line- the snowpack structure looks terrible below treeline to just near treeline in the Sawatch. Future loading would be very concerning. Also, don't go off trail with a 145" track.