Sawatch

Avalanche

Nathanial Goodman ยท Jan 17, 2015

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Weather

Clear skies. Intense solar input. Got real cold real quick when the sun went down. T air -4 T surface - 5 T -20 - 5 Calm - light winds in meadows. Moderate to intense blowing snow at ridge tops. lots of turbulent suspension. 2 cms of new snow HS 69 Pf 65 FCsf about 1mm on top of snow

Snowpack

West aspects @ 11K were mostly faceted top to bottom. Thin crust below new snow, Old MFcr mostly faceted. NE aspect @11K HS around 90 cm About 5 cm of new ontop of SH layer. - big crystals 9-12 mm. Shovel Tilt easy knocked layer off. Shovel Shear Easy down about 50 on the old MFcr.

Avalanche

Observed 3 N/u avalanches while crossing Freemont pass. These were ESE- SE facing at about 12000 ft. between Mayflower and Copper Mountain on the W. Side of 91. Layer unknown, Depth questionable but could see the crowns, D2, R2 One additional avalanche observed 2 drainages S. of Chalk Creek. Trigger unknown, debris look fresh or fresher, crown all ready blown in by wind.