Sawatch

Avalanche

Max Forgensi · Mar 13, 2021 · Sawatch

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Weather

Snow. Heavy at times. Milk bottle visibility. Precipitation rate of S2 during tour from 1200 to 1500. Winds predominantly out of the southeast and strong enough to form wind slabs on leeward sides of slopes and ridges.

Snowpack

@11,400' on N and NNE aspects. HS = 110 cm. Trap door skin and downhill ski conditions. If you could keep your equipment on the top half of the snowpack travel was ok. Tests: CT18 @ 60 cm, sudden collapse. ECTP27 @ 60 cm. Layer interface @ 60 cm went from 1F to Fist or 4F+. Mixed results on how new snow was bonding to old snow surface. Burp tests yielded results on recent near surface facets while on firmer surface conditions burp tests did not yield results.

Avalanche

No natural avalanches observed. Test slope (with wind loading) did yield shooting cracks at this below treeline location.