Sawatch
SnowpackJason Konigsberg ยท Mar 1, 2016
Weather
Temp from Brumley (10600 ft) at 9 AM. Cloud cover decreased throughout the day as did wind speeds. At 3 PM sky was scattered with light to moderate winds.
Snowpack
Snowpack is generally strong in the area I traveled. Supportable at all elevation with ski pen. in the 2 to 4 inch range. Snow depth ranged from 140 cms to over 2 meters in wind-loaded areas. The snowpack structure is fair with the weakest snow 0 to 40 cms from the ground. This snow is large-grained depth hoar in the 2 to 4 mm range. The hardness difference, between the depth hoar and the slab above, is not great and the depth hoar is 4 finger to 1 finger hard, showing signs of strength. I did not find any reactive mid or upper-pack weaknesses.--- The bottom line for Persistent Slabs- We will see large avalanches possibly breaking to the ground again but only with a very large load. Small increments of snow will not increase the avalanche danger or decrease snowpack stability.---Southerly aspects stayed cool above treeline and no signs of wet instability were noted.