Sawatch
SnowpackJeremiah Primmer · Mar 23, 2022 · Sawatch
Weather
Clear skies with strong winds, snow was not loading effectively above teeline but the slopes had already been loaded from last night, small drifts were building near treeline
Snowpack
At the trailhead, I found a thick melt-freeze crust under 1” of new snow on all aspects. After gaining some elevation and bumping up into the near treeline band on south-facing slopes, water during the last warm-up had percolated down into the holiday storm snow with many ice layers to add strength. On a southeast-facing slope at a similar elevation, I found that the water had only made its way down 50cm and the last ice layer was just on top of the near-surface facets from the midwinter dry spell. I got a propagating result in an ECT with moderate force that failed on that interface. East-facing exposed slopes had a similar structure to the southeast, but on shaded locations, the water had only made it 30cm down, and on NE slopes, there was only a melt-freeze crust at the top of the snowpack. I saw a recent crack on a northeast slope at a rollover with a thin 90cm snowpack that I think failed on four finger hard 2-3mm facets about 20cm up from the bottom of the snowpack. I saw four small avalanches from wind slabs that failed just below the ridgeline on east and southeast facing slopes and one larger avalanche on a southeast-facing slope above treeline that looked like it failed on a buried weak layer.