Sawatch

Avalanche

John Mackinnon ยท Feb 14, 2016

View on map

Weather

Overcast skies increasing to obscured, moderate westerly winds, cool temperatures and very light snow starting around 12 pm.

Snowpack

We observed ~1-2 cm of new snow accumulate throughout day. Snowpack on lower angle west aspects below TL averaged 80 cm, and consisted of weak snow capped by a stout melt-freeze crust. As we moved to treeline HS still averaged 80 cm but there was a more developed slab that was sitting on 30-40 cm of facets and depth hoar. The melt-freeze crust was well developed up to 11,700 ft. Above TL, the snow surface had remained dry during the warm spell; surface was a mix of new snow, wind crusts and surface facets. No cracking or collapsing observed during our tour.

Avalanche

No recent avalanches observed. We did observe two older slab avalanches in the Buckeye Gulch drainage that probably ran during the early February cycle. A small slab ripped to the ground on an E aspect below treeline--SS-U-R1-D1-G. Could have been skier triggered? We also say an older slide in the bowl below Pt. 12254--E aspect above TL. Hard to observe with the visibility but it looked like it was probably D2 in size. The crown broke below a large cornice in the prominent bowl.