Sawatch
AvalancheJason Maurer · Nov 10, 2018 · Sawatch
Weather
Mostly cloudy skies with moderate ridgeline wind gusts out of the West/Southwest. Gradually increasing clouds through out the day. Temps hovering around 20-25 degrees F.
Snowpack
Extensive wind scouring ATL with pockets of softer wind deposited snow in sheltered areas. Firm wind buff on leeward side of ridgelines. SNPX depth ranged from 200+ cm's on the leeward side of the ridge to 30-60cm's in shelterd or wind scoured areas below ridgelines and in the NTL bands. 2-3mm sized depth hoar observed on NW facing slopes ATL.
Avalanche
Toured up the N facing ridge of Mt. Arkansas to around 12,300ft. At this point we contoured up and around the ridge to a NW facing gully feature. This gully feature looked heavily wind sculpted with obvious signs of wind loading/ cross loading. At this location were were above the gully on a 20-23 degree angle slope. We discussed descent options and the possibility to turn around due to punchy surface snow conditions. I executed a ski cut well above the start zone convexity and observed shooting cracks. With a few hard stomps near the end of the ski cut I was able to remotely trigger the avalanche from well out of the start zone. The avalanche broke to the ground and en-trained many large boulders in the slide path. This avalanche also caused a sympathetic release of another avalanche farther down the gully feature.