Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · Feb 3, 2025 · Front Range
Weather
Warm but not too windy.
Snowpack
Below treeline on an easterly aspect, in an area I have dug many times recently, all test scores were getting higher. Cut lengths on a PST 57/100 and no propagation on ECTs indicate a snowpack losing reactivity. Below the treeline, the snow was still cold and dry on north through east aspects, but on southeast and south, it was getting moist but just at the surface. The only small loose wet we observed was in steep southeast-facing terrain below the treeline. On a wind-drifted ridgeline, we could only pry out one small Wind-Slab on a steep northeasterly roll. This was despite dropping many cornices on the slope. Above the treeline, we observed south, southeast, and east aspects. On these aspects there was a thin crust that may have been a small wind or melt-freeze crust. Beneath the crust was only decomposing snow, apart from east, where there was a graupel layer. In these areas, the snowpack was generally over 2 meters deep, and in the top 3 feet of the snowpack, there were no reactive persistent weak layers and no propagation in ECTs.