Sawatch

Avalanche

John Mackinnon · Mar 19, 2017 · Sawatch

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Weather

Few clouds, moderate westerly winds and warm temperatures. We measured an airtemp of +5C at 11,500 feet at noon.

Snowpack

Weak re-freeze and wet surface snow on exposed east aspects below TL by 10 am. We kicked off a few small rollerballs while skiing NE facing slopes between 30 and 35 degrees below TL. A quick test pit revealed 10 cm of very wet snow on NE aspects at 11,000 feet by 12:30 pm. Below 10,500 feet the snowpack was saturated and "punchy" by 1 pm on all aspects still holding onto snow.

Avalanche

We observed 1 small loose wet avalanche that looked like it had occurred in the past 48 hours--probably yesterday afternoon. It slid near TL on a steep southwest facing slope and broke near a tree and a small rock outcropping.