Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Dec 11, 2025 · Sawatch
Snowpack
Below treeline, there was more snow than I expected, making travel on any road with skis easy. The wind had not reached below treeline areas, and the snow depth on slopes that face the north side of the compass was a consistent 45 cm. The snowpack is soft, without a cohesive slab. Initiated cracks were short-running. There isn't enough snow to cover the abundant deadfall in this area. There is enough snow to form a consistent weak layer across open below treeline slopes before our next significant storm. Near treeline was much more wind-affected than I thought it would be. It was tough to find a spot to dig that was sheltered and representative of a wind-sheltered snowpack. The two places I dug were on a north and east-facing slope near treeline (~11,800 ft). These two places had a similar snowpack. There was a 25 to 30 cm one-finger hard wind-drifted slab over 20 to 25 cm of fist-hard faceted snow near the ground. In an Extended Column Test, I got a result of ECTPV (crack propagated while isolating the column) at the top of the basal facets. These areas, where a hard slab rests over weak facets, are disconnected across the terrain. In this area, near treeline, it would be hard to find an area with enough connected snow to trigger an avalanche D2 in size or larger. Contrary to what the forecast team has discussed for other areas, near treeline is not the most dangerous elevation band. Above treeline is also significantly wind-affected, with a lot of slopes scoured back to rock. There is very little snow on north and northwest-facing slopes. These slopes do not harbor any Persistent Slab avalanche concerns. The only alpine slopes with connected snow are northeast, east, and southeast. It depends on the shape of the slope, too, as some of these slopes are also scoured. These places are where I would be most worried about triggering an avalanche large enough to bury a person. Steep, alpine slopes that collect wind-drifted snow should be approached with caution. I would avoid these slopes, especially if there is a hard slab, and they face northeast and east. I didn't travel in this elevation band, but the data I collected from near treeline in the smaller wind-drifted spots paints a good picture of what could be found in drifted features above treeline but with thicker, more connected slabs.
Avalanche
Recent D2 avalanche on a steep east-facing slope near ridgetop at 12,500 ft. I'm guessing it's 2 to 3 days old, but no way to know.