Sawatch

Snowpack

8-12 inches new. no cracking or whoomphing on the tour. On the ridge line, we assessed the snowpack by performing a cornice cut to see if we could trigger an avalanche on a similar slope to what we skied. It took 3 large cornice cuts to trigger an avalanche. We concluded that the new wind slabs were very reactive, and the destructive potential would be reduced if we stayed away from the wind loaded cornices. Picture 1 and 2 are from the avalanche triggered by the cornice cuts, pic 3 and 4 are from the skier triggered avalanche.