Sawatch

Snowpack

Rich Rogers ยท Jan 25, 2025

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Observation photo 1

Weather

Felt warmer than the forecasted high temperature, mostly calm with a light breeze for a moment around noon not enough to move surface snow, and overcast skies.

Snowpack

We dug in a sheltered slope on Northeast aspect around 11,000ft. The depth of snow was 95cm(~3ft). We found a firm slab buried mid-pack over top of weaker snow. Snowpack test scores were moderate to hard non-propagating and non-planar just under the bottom of the firm but weak slab. Stepping out of skis resulted in sinking mid-thigh to hip deep. The other half of our class dug higher on more drifted slopes and found propagating results in extended column tests in a harder slab.