Sawatch

Avalanche

Ryan Williams ยท Jan 17, 2017

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Weather

The temps were slightly rising for most of the day. Snow began to fall around 13:00, at a very low rate. Clouds were increasing through out the day, with calm winds coming from the west. No signs of wind loading.

Snowpack

The snow stability was very good on West aspects, from 10,400 to 11,800 feet (Below Tree-line to Tree-line. On West aspects, BTL and TL, there was lots of surface hoar, around 2mm in size.There were no signs of recent avalanches happening within the past four days on any aspect or elevation. Could not find signs of depth hoar at ground any more, and the facets seem to be rounding and bonding more now. The old/new snow interface was the layer of concern, but was nonreactive during an ECT test. However, during a Shovel Shear test this layer broke easily. During our ski descent there was no reaction, and the skiing was very good.

Avalanche

N/A