Sawatch
AvalancheAnonymous · Feb 19, 2018 · Sawatch
Weather
Cold, snowy and windy. Light snow (S1) with higher bursts of graupel, moderate southwest winds and lots of blowing snow at all elevations. We measured an air temperature of -6 C at 11,700 ft at 2 pm.
Snowpack
Cottonwood Pass Area E aspect at TL: We found 60 cm of 1F-P hard slab resting on facets. There was also a shallow fresh slab (5 cm) on top of the snowpack. HS averaged over meter with deeper spots in wind-loaded areas. Middle Fork of Cottonwood Creek Area NW aspect at TL: We found over 2 meters of snow in a wind-loaded area with hard slabs resting on facets. E aspect below TL: We dug a final test pit at the end of the day. Found 5 cm of recent storm snow. Below that we found 23 cm of storm snow from this month resting on 60 cm of fist hard facets and depth hoar. Overall we found the snowpack in the cottonwood pass area to have widespread strong over weak layering. The bottom 1/2 of the snowpack consists of weak facets and depth hoar.
Avalanche
We observed 1 relatively recent slab avalanche on the east side of the continental divide just south of Cottonwood Pass. It looked like it might have released naturally during the February 15 cycle. R2-D2 with an average width of 400 feet and vertical length of 400 feet. Crown heights varied but the max. crown height was approximately 2-3 feet. (Flat light disclaimer!)