Front Range

Avalanche

Mike Soucy · Feb 7, 2019 · Front Range

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Weather

Cold! Falling temperatures today with moderate to strong wind from the west and overcast skies, felt like negative double digits by mid afternoon. Did not venture to ATL elevations.

Snowpack

15cm storm snow was gaining cohesion throughout the day due to cold wind and transport. Windslabs observed 30-40cm thick in isolated lee terrain near treeline. Moderately reactive with localized cracking and propagation. The persistent problem presented itself on a NE aspect NTL, as a thin layer of buried facets 70cm down that failed CTM sudden planar. ECTX.

Avalanche

Yesterday, I made it up to the ATL elevations and observed multiple natural D1-1.5 soft slab avalanches in steep terrain N-SE aspects. Today, NTL windslabs were small <D1, isolated to steep terrain features, but growing in the PM.