Sawatch
AvalancheIan Hoyer · Apr 4, 2017 · Sawatch
Weather
Very variable weather through the day, but eerily calm. Started out snowing lightly with low clouds and super flat light at 9am. Clouds lifted and skies cleared by around 12pm, sun popped out for a bit. Clouds moved back in and it began snowing again around 2pm. Only ~1" accumulation through the day.
Snowpack
Remarkably little wind drifting near and above treeline. The snow surface had a slight texture from North winds, but was in an even ~8" blanket and only fist hard. New snow was right side up and showed no signs of instability. No cracking on test slopes or propagating results in snowpack tests. There were some facets around the recent melt-freeze crusts, but they were non-reactive. There were solid crusts on every aspect near treeline. Most were unbreakable on foot or snowmobiles, but occasionally you'd break through on foot on a N aspect. Crusts on N aspects were still at least 5 cm thick and pencil-knife hard.
Avalanche
None observed.