Sawatch
SnowpackJohn Mackinnon ยท Mar 12, 2013
Weather
Mild and sunny day with steady moderate NW winds and light blowing snow. Airtemp of 0 at 11:30 am at 11,200 ft. Skies were broken with high thin clouds.
Snowpack
Tour up the SE flanks of Chalk Mountain. Snowpack in exposed windward terrain is very variable. HS~50 cm with recent storms sitting on older DH and FC. Got minor cracking on west aspects at 11,000 ft and very easy hand shears involving recent slabs on PWLs. Observed lots of shooting cracks and small slab displacement of recently wind-loaded snow while skiing around a large cornice on a SE aspect at 11,400 ft.. ~30cm of wind slabs cracked and broke off cornice. Some of these "mini slides" stepped down into weaker layers. Profiles on an SSE aspect at 11,300 feet in an area that had seen much recent and previous wind-loading also showed variable and touchy snowpack. CTs and ECTs still showing potential for propagation for wind slabs in the upper snowpack as well as persistent slabs in the lower snowpack. HS ranged from 85 cm to 140 cm. Our group felt one huge rumbling collapse on a SSE aspect below treeline. We skied out SW slopes up to 30*. The upper 2-3cm of the snowpack was moist by 2 pm. Observed 4 natural and 2 triggered slides in Chalk Creek Drainage today. See other obs in Chalk Cr. for info on the 2 slides just northeast of pt. 12,018. All observed naturals were on easterly aspects near and above treeline.