Front Range
AvalancheRyan Lewthwaite · Dec 23, 2019 · Front Range
Weather
A warm day with clouds early and late in the day. Southwest winds at Ridgeline were light with no available snow for transport.
Snowpack
On a Below TreeLine north aspect the snowpack has little supporting structure. The recent snow from last weekend sits on older facetted snow with a fine layer of (rounding) buried surface hoar in between. The <1cm layer of Surface Hoar, in the middle of the snowpack, is reactive in stability tests with moderate force. Boot penetration is over half of the snowpack depth, this is a common theme on similar aspects in the area. It is very unlikely that today you would trigger an avalanche on this low angle slope under these conditions. Although steepen the slope to over 35 degrees and the likelihood will increase.
Avalanche
No new avalanches.