Sawatch
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Apr 15, 2023 · Sawatch
Weather
In the morning there were snow showers and gusty winds during the snow squalls. Clouds decreased in the afternoon as did the wind, but there was still enough wind to effectively drift snow. The temperatures stayed cool and the snow stayed dry near and above treeline.
Snowpack
The recent warmup resulted in a marked change for our snowpack in this area. The snowpack changed from a dry winter-like snowpack, to a more consolidated spring-like snowpack that has seen meltwater on most aspects and elevations. Although dry, basal layers still exist, especially on northerly slopes, there are very hard, almost impenetrable crusts that prevent a person from affecting anything deeper. The most concerning portion of the snowpack is the top foot where winds are drifting snow into reactive slabs. These slabs of drifted snow are on top of dusty, faceted crusts that were on our surface before the most recent snowfall. Besides the wind-drifted snow, there were no other avalanche concerns. In the next day or two, this dry snow will heat up quickly, sliding on the above-mentioned crust, and resulting in wet avalanches. The crust is so thick near and above treeline, I would not expect any avalanches to gouge below the crust. Below treeline, the crusts were gone by the time of my exit at 3 PM. It's possible to trigger gouging wet avalanches below treeline in very steep rocky areas as this crust melts each afternoon. This threat is becoming less as meltwater is now draining through the entire snowpack below treeline.