Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · May 12, 2021 · Sawatch
Weather
Mostly clear in the morning with a mix of sun and clouds by late morning. It was breezy above treeline at ridgetop but not much wind in high-elevation sheltered basins.
Snowpack
The snow turned moist quickly on all but due north-facing slopes. On east through south-facing slopes it was easy to push the snow and get it to slide on the buried crust. In the drier north-facing snow, I did not observe any signs of instability although the new snow sits on a slick crust. Even though light wind loading continues, there were no signs that wind-drifted slabs were reactive. The wind drifting is just adding snow to easterly slopes and increasing the volume for loose wet avalanches.
Avalanche
Numerous loose snow avalanches. Avalanches a few days old were loose dry while today's avalanches were loose wet. All the avalanches were small but big enough to cause trouble in extreme terrain.