Sawatch
AvalancheAndrew McWilliams · Dec 21, 2022 · Sawatch
Weather
Clouds built throughout the day and skies became broken by noon. Winds increased significantly around 1 PM to moderate with strong gusts from the west and were moving snow. Temperatures stayed in the teens throughout the day.
Snowpack
Snow height below treeline ranged from 45cm at about 10,500 feet to 70cm at 11,000. On north-facing slopes below treeline there was not much structure to speak of. Just a 4-finger hard slab sandwiched by fist hard facets to the ground and faceting precipitation particles to the surface. On easterly aspects, there was still a crust present near the ground with facets on either side, but the crust has been decomposing and is no longer very sturdy - about 4-finger hard. Above that was a more stout, older slab that is also faceting - 1-finger hard and then fragmented particles to the surface. As you move into the near treeline elevation band the effect of the wind is obvious. New snow was blown into deep low-density drifts resting on areas of older, dense and stiff slab or resting on cohesionless snow to the ground. Above treeline, westerly aspects were generally stripped to bare ground with isolated areas of what appeared to be deep, dense drifts of snow. Snow depths near treeline were around 80 to 100 cm and one drift attempted to dig in was nearly 200 cm deep. Test results in my pits confirmed a stubborn Persistent Slab problem with both non-propagating and propagating results with moderate to hard scores. I had no cracks or collapses during my travels.
Avalanche
There was a very small pocket of recently wind-drifted snow that ran beneath an east-facing ridgeline.