Sawatch
SnowpackAndrew McWilliams · Jan 15, 2023 · Sawatch
Weather
Overcast skies became broken at times with a couple of short periods of visibility. There were a few flurries but no accumulation during our travels. Light winds from the west and temperatures in the 20s.
Snowpack
The snowpack was generally supportable for the snowmachines, but they did drop into old snow in isolated areas near trees and willows. We dug on an east-northeast aspect near treeline. Snow heights varied from about 80cm in the thinnest areas near bushes to 180cm in wind-drifted areas. The snowpack generally consisted of fist to four-finger hard precipitation particles and decomposing fragments on the surface. There was a slab of one-finger to pencil hard small grains beneath this layer and near the ground were large chained depth hoar crystals that were also fist to four-finger hard.