Sawatch
AvalancheKevin Nikolaides · Jan 21, 2022 · Sawatch
Weather
Broken skies becoming overcast by around 9AM. Surprisingly very little wind even above tree line. Light snow began picking up at 11AM.
Snowpack
Sun exposed snow near and below tree line had a thin melt freeze crust and everything else was soft and sugary. Above tree line was very firm with areas of sastrugi. I took several snow height measurements along the way - just west of boss lake at 10,900': 95-110 cm - at 11,500': 130cm - below ridge on SE face: 260 cm - on ridge at 12,800': 150 cm I dug a quick pit on the SE face not far from the ridge where the snow depth was 260 cm. Might not be very representative of the aspect in other areas because of obvious wind loading all season but I was curious what it looked like. I dug 130cm down and found a very stiff P hardness slab with 15cm of 1F at the surface. I got an ECTN 26 result on that interface with a non-planar, irregular fracture. I'm sure there is weak snow at the bottom but I wasn't able to force my ski pole through to the weak snow at the bottom of my pit, or elsewhere on the SE face.
Avalanche
None