Sawatch

Avalanche

John MacKinnon · Jan 23, 2021 · Sawatch

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Weather

Overcast skies with periods of sun poking through. Very light intermittent snow throughout the day. Winds were southwesterly and generally light with some stronger gusts below TL. Temps felt chilly.

Snowpack

The height of snow averaged about 60 cm on sheltered shady slopes below TL and consisted primarily of weak faceted snow and depth hoar. There was about 1-2 cm of new snow overnight. Despite the lack of a slab, CTs repeatedly produced sudden results at 30 cm at the 12/10 interface--where the facets and depth hoar meet at about 30 cm. Sunny slopes were much shallower and had developed a crust from Friday (1/22). We did not observe any cracking or collapsing but there were periods of light blowing snow from the SW in wind-exposed areas below treeline.

Avalanche

We did not observe any avalanches in our area.