Sawatch
SnowpackBo Torrey · Mar 12, 2021 · Sawatch
Weather
Clear skies, mostly light southerly winds with the occasional strong gust.
Snowpack
Soft snow still remains on sheltered northwest, north and northeast facing slopes with a soft crust buried below the most recent 4 inches of storm snow. I found buried near surface facets above and below the soft crust 15-20cm below the surface. On a north facing slope near treeline I found a 120cm deep snowpack where the slab was quite a bit thinner than other areas I've dug. The weak layer of depth hoar and facets was only 65cm below the surface. In this shallower snowpit I was not able to get any failures in an ECT test. On a southeast facing slope near treeline the snopwack was 130cm deep and held multiple melt freeze solid water ice crusts 1cm thick. The faceted layer of concern 50cm above the ground was moist and beginning to round but did produce failure in an ECT. ECTP22 x 2.