Sawatch

Avalanche

John Mackinnon ยท Feb 16, 2014

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Weather

Broken skies in the late morning that trended to overcast in the afternoon. Light precipitation began falling around 1400. No significant accumulation. New snow was rimed and transitioned into graupel by 1500. Westerly winds were light below treeline but increased up moderate near treeline. We also observed some light blowing snow near treeline. Airtemps of -1C at 1330 at 11,400 ft.

Snowpack

Observed S-SW-W aspects near and below treeline in the California Gulch area. Our group heard three loud collapses on SW aspects below treeline. Test profiles at 11,400 ft on a SW aspect revealed an HS of about 110 cm and a facet/crust combination buried down 55 cm. CTs showed repeated "pops" at this interface---CTM (SP) x 2 on FC/MFcr at 55 cm. 50-55 cm of 1F snow trending to 4F snow are resting on the facets. Ski quality was great below treeline with a uniformly supportive snowpack. Snowpack was more variable near treeline with a mix of shallow wind drifted slabs resting on facets, wind-board, and wind pillows. Surface snow stayed dry on observed steep south aspects at 11,000 ft in the afternoon. Winds, cloud cover and cooling temps kept the loose wet problem in check in areas we visited.

Avalanche

We did not observe any recent avalanches.