Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Jan 6, 2021 · Sawatch
Weather
Warm and clear with clouds moving in late in the day. Sustained northerly winds at ridgetop. Light but continuous drifting snow. No wind down a few hundred feet down from the ridge.
Snowpack
I got a couple slope-wide collapses. One large collapse was when I skied over a rollover (from about 20 degree slope angle to 28 degrees). The southeast-facing near treeline slope had cracks throughout. I dug below the rollover and found 115 cm of total snow depth. The layer of concern was 70 cm from the surface. It was 2-3 mm faceted crystals with a hardness of 4F-. This layer sits on top of a 3 cm thick crust. I haven't dug on a lot of southeast lately but this crust is the thickest and hardest crust I have seen. It's not faceting away like the buried crust on due east. On due south-facing slopes I found a weak snowpack but not much of a slab.
Avalanche
One old D2 observed above Slide Lake and one fresh D2 north of Homestake Peak. It likely ran within the last 24 hours.