Sawatch
SnowpackBo Torrey · Nov 26, 2020 · Sawatch
Weather
Mostly cloudy skies with the occasional break in the clouds and sunshine. Light winds with gusts confined to upper elevation ridges
Snowpack
4” of soft storm snow at 10,500 with 6” around 12,000 feet. Sheltered slopes below treeline were shallow but supportive under skis. Higher, more exposed slopes were a mix of loose unconsolidated snow that was like walking through a sandbox followed by very firm wind hammered slopes that were difficult to edge into and keep traction while skinning. We dug on a northeast-facing slopes near treeline and found the buried persistent weak layer near the ground but no cohesive slab above it. Stability results here were: ECTX x2. Higher up on a more easterly-facing slope we found Pencil to Knife hard wind board 30 cm thick that was nearly impenetrable with a shovel. In above-treeline terrain it was easy to feel the transition from stiff supportable snow to softer snow. Although this is indicative of wind transported snow, we didn't find any reactivity of the wind drifted snow in this areas. The main concern were areas where the wind had drifted enough snow to create a stiff cohesive slab but not too much that the slab was impenetrable. Those transition zones down below ridge lines where the snow surface goes from supportable to breakable are likely areas to trigger Persistent Weak layers. As we skied down, we pulled up onto a small rollover and got a large collapse and shooting crack ~50’ feet wide on a NE aspect at 12,200 feet. The snowpack was 55cm deep with a 4F+ slab on top of a buried persistent weak layer near the ground. Southerly slopes were crusted over with 2 to 3 inches of loose faceted snow below the surface crust and above a second crust.