Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Jan 20, 2022 · Sawatch
Weather
Bluebird day, not a cloud in the sky. Temps were quite cold this morning but warmed up nicely. Winds were about 15 to 25 mph at 12k ridgetops, decreasing in the afternoon. No snow transport.
Snowpack
The snow surface is quite faceted on northerly slopes. The layer of near surface facets is approximately 4 inches thick. Shady, steep slopes below treeline are thin (60 to 80 cm) and almost entirely faceted. East slopes are variable. Below treeline they have thick crusts, near treeline thinner crust, and above treeline mostly faceted surface snow. I dug on an east-facing near treeline slope and found a snow depth of 125 cm. Stability test results of ECTX and PST40/100END on four-finger hard 2 mm facets approx. 40 cm from the ground. The slab above the faceted layer was stout, up to pencil hard. Even though this is a shallow area we are concerned about, right now it would be very difficult to affect the weak layer beneath the stout slab. Southeast-facing slopes above treeline are really shallow and mostly faceted. There is a 15 to 20 cm thick layer of fist-hard facets beneath a surface crust that is knife-hard a 2 cm thick. Light loads won't collapse the facets below the crust but a large load would.
Avalanche
No recent avalanche activity