Sangre de Cristo
AvalancheLogan Hjelmstad · Mar 4, 2019 · Sangre de Cristo
Weather
Early morning was very clear down low but by midday a warm storm blew in from the northwest accumulating approximately 2 inches of grauple above treeline from 11:00 to around 3:30. Strong winds from the west blew all day.
Snowpack
Below treeline snowpack was very fragile with 6-8 inches of new snow sitting on top of a 8-12 inch consolidated slab from the last big storm and a weak layer below consisting of an inch or two of Grauple. Lots of shooting cracks on steep slopes, mostly to the north and a couple incidents of sudden settling on low angle terrain. Above treeline snow was thin on ridge tops and well packed on sheltered low angle terrain, a pit on a westerly slope showed light sloughing with new snow but no propagation on extended column test and 46 taps before failure on the standard column.
Avalanche
Two, back to back, Naturally occurring slab avalanche right at treeline. Both released to the ground, looked to be about 18 inches deep and very thick wind slabs. Must have been triggered by the recent snow and strong winds.