Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · May 30, 2024 · Front Range
Weather
Clouds and strong winds delayed the softening at the surface.
Snowpack
Below the treeline, the snow is becoming more patchy, but there was continuous snow on packed trails. Off trails shady areas held continuous snow and open areas were mostly melted out. Snow was supportive to skis and is well drained. Near Treeline elevation band was the punchiest snow. The surface crust was only about 4 inches thick and was punchy to boots early in the morning. In compression test the crust failed on a layer of wet grains but then seemed to just glue itself into the wet grains. Later in the day as I was traveling back through this elevation band I did get collapses but that seemed like it may have been related to vegetation under the crust and was very isolated. On steep slopes (over 40*) I was able to push small wet loose avalanches at 2pm as I egressed but this was just localized to the top 4-6" of snow. Above treeline surfaces remained cool and I was able to ski a southerly slope around 11am and a northerly slope a little after noon both with just the top 2-3" of snow soft. In these areas the surface crust was 6-8" thick and I was never able to penetrate through it with boots. Beneath the surface crust there are a variety of rounded snow and melt-freeze crusts. Water was pooling in a couple of locations but not above a very prominent crust and I think it will continue to drain smoothly.