Sawatch
SnowpackCollin Appleby · Dec 31, 2022 · Sawatch
Weather
Overcast skies with warm temps throughout the day. Sky coverage increased and light snowfall began later in the afternoon.
Snowpack
Below treeline the snowpack was stable enough to support a skier on South facing aspects. Moving to North/Northeast aspects, signs of instability become clearly evident with greater ski pentration, whompfing, and shooting cracks even below treeline. Near treeline the snowpack on the same NNE aspects appear stable at first, but after digging we found a large >2ft thick slab formed from last week's wind and the new incoming precipitation. While low angle slopes above treeline did not show signs cracking or collapsing, several test showed that the upper slab could break and sheer on a pencil hard layer buried underneath and resting on a layer of developed facets.