Front Range

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Nov 2, 2021 · Front Range

Weather

Off and on light snow with generally poor visibility. Temps were mild in the mid to upper-twenties at ridgetop.

Snowpack

I traveled on east and northeast-facing slopes from below to above treeline. Below treeline, the coverage is thin except for northerly slopes. The snowpack is 30 to 45 cm deep on these shady slopes. The upper snowpack was surprisingly supportable to skis. Also somewhat surprising was the only propagating test result I got today was below treeline. The failure was 23 cm from the ground. This is the top of the basal facets. As I moved higher I found snow coverage on east-facing slopes but it was only about 30 cm deep and the basal facets were moist and harder then below treeline. Typically wind-loaded terrain features down off of the ridge were also thin. When I got within a few hundred feet of the ridge, there was a thicker and more cohesive slab, about 45 cm thick. Even so, the distribution was spotty and the thicker slab only exists in pockets, not across entire slopes. ---Overall the basal weak layers near and above treeline were stronger than I expected. This may have been due to lower slope angles though as I didn't travel on any very steep slopes that would have preserved more early season snow. I did not experience any deep cracking or collapsing. Small cornices were building near ridgetop which were sensitive in a few areas, but small cornice breaks did not trigger anything deeper.