Sawatch

Avalanche

Colman Hartinger · Jan 29, 2018 · Sawatch

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Weather

15 Fahrenheit with 30-40 mph gusts from the west

Snowpack

Dug pit at 11,500 ft on westerly slope in a shaded wind loaded area, the bottom 35cm were made up of around 1f to p hardness with 3mm depth hoar at ground interface. We got a CTH 30 with a Q3 failure at the facet interface 35 cm up from bottom.140 cm total depth., no concerning temperature gradient and mellow terrain led this to be the only test we did

Avalanche

We observed a small natural avalanche on wind loaded eastern terrain from ridge was probably from storm on 1/25 or 1/26 and new snow deposit covered most of the debris field except some very large chunks approximately 1 ft crown near old weather station monarch pass.