Weather
Sunny day with light to moderate west winds, gusting at times.
Snowpack
The snowpack is thin in most areas around the Northern Sawatch. Deeper drifted slopes were isolated, and in many cases, stiff wind slabs extended only 30-40 feet down the slope. I dug a quick pit on a north-facing slope below the ridgeline in 45 cm of snow and found a very simple structure: 25cm 1F wind slab over 20cm of 1mm Fist-hard facets. My ECT column failed on isolation. Given the thin snowpack and spotty slab formation, I wouldn't say this was a surprise.