Sangre de Cristo
AvalancheKrista Beyer Rich Rogers · Apr 7, 2025 · Sangre de Cristo
Weather
Sunny, warm, light breeze swirled within basin but generally Northwest wind. Observed light drifting along West and Southwest leeward terrain features from Northeast winds during recent upslope storm.
Snowpack
Lower snow totals throughout the season have created generally disconnected coverage on the west side of Blanca Peak. Wind has pressed snow into surfaces and cross-loaded features. These areas have the deepest snowpack and are immediately adjacent to shallow rocky areas. North couloirs were also surprisingly shallow and rocky, which seems to support the idea that wind is responsible for the deeper areas of connected snow coverage on the west side of the Sangre Range. There are preserved facets and crust/facet combinations on slopes with a north tilt. However, firm pencil hard layers make impacting deeper weak areas a challenging and improbable endeavor. Firm layers and melt-freeze crusts, even on north slopes, tell the story of previous dry/warm spells throughout the season. Any snow instability is most likely to be within the most recent snowfall, which has settled and proved to be unreactive during travel. Any instability with current warm days/freezing nights will be limited to the most recent few inches of snow sliding on firm crusts. In addition, the current warm period will render any thin wind slabs that may have developed during and before the upslope event isolated to extreme terrain on high elevations with a north tilt.
Avalanche
We saw no evidence of recent avalanches nor avalanches that may have occured earlier in the season.