Sawatch
SnowpackBo Torrey, Austin Divesta · Feb 12, 2021 · Sawatch
Weather
Light snow showers for most of the day with the occasional burst of heavy snowfall. Moderate southwesterly winds
Snowpack
2 to 4 inches of new snow. New snow fell onto a thin crust and allowed for fast sloughing on steep test slopes. Snowpack depth ranged from 60-120cm. In many areas bellow treeline the snowpack continues to be unsupportive and mostly consists of faceted snow. Areas where either more snow fell, or the wind or sun effected the snow were more supportive but held weak layers. On East and South aspects the snowpack holds 2 prominent melt freeze crusts with weak faceted snow below. On slopes facing North, east and south a cohesive 1 finger slab 1 to 3 feet thick sits about weak faceted snow about 30 to 40 cm above the ground. Several stability tests indicated continued reactivity of the weak faceted snow near the ground with varying levels of taps. In the shallower areas more commonly found on Southerly slopes we experience failure on isolation and ECTP3 2 feet down on facets. On a northerly slope where the snowpack was 115cm deep it took more effort to impact the weak layers but still propagated. ECTP 23 80cm below the surface.