Sawatch

Avalanche

Spencer Herford · Dec 20, 2019 · Sawatch

Weather

Ridgeline was shaded in the morning, colder temps and light wind. No snow transport observed. Skies remained scattered throughout the day with high cirrus clouds. No precip.

Snowpack

2mm Surface hoar observed on most of route and descent of Peck's west side. Snow was soft NTL and BTL. ATL was variable of wind crust and soft depending on how the wind hit it. Test pit near Crest Trail at 11,100 ft on west aspect showed HS 99cm, Compression test (CT24 SC) broke on an interface @ 24cm between a 1F slab of 1mm rounds and 3mm depth hoar. Ran out of time for further testing.

Avalanche

Observed two N-R1-D2 (could not safely view the full path) that stepped down into old snow layers and possibly to ground. Both were filled in with wind transport snow since they ran, ~20191217