Sawatch
AvalancheSpencer Herford · Dec 29, 2021 · Sawatch
Weather
Overcast skies, S-1 to S1 most of the day. Moderate wind gusts from the west once we cleared the trees into the open area near treeline. Some wind transport observed on ridgelines.
Snowpack
HS in the open areas near treeline was averaging 130cm. 20cm of new snow on top of a supportable midpack and weak early season snow on the ground. As we reached 12,000 ft in an open area facing NE near some small trees, we had a decent size crack radially around my skis, first of the day. Two steps later a large rumbling collapse, notable for how long the rumble lasted (seemed like three seconds). We continued to ascend and approximately 500 ft away horizontal we found cracking caused by our collapse. We took a lap and as we ascended the skin track the second time about 600 ft horizontal away from the initial failure point we again found evidence of the failure with a nice crack right across the track that wasn't there before.
Avalanche
Some evidence of previous activity in isolated terrain features off pt 13,198, hard to get a read on size since it had mostly filled in. More noteworthy was the lack of fresh activity in the area, even on the drive up from Twin Lakes. The light was a bit flat today so not the best day to hunt for recent activity.