Front Range
AvalancheAndy Nelson · Dec 10, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Skies were clear, with light to moderate winds from the south - southwest, 21F, no new snow, some small amounts of blowing snow still at ridge top towards the end of the day. Pleasant day really.
Snowpack
Total height of snow in near tree line terrain is around 70-90cm. In deeper places the snowpack measured closer to a full meter. For the most part, the wind has come and done it's thing with the Dec 5-6 storm snow, pushing the snow into slabs on the surface, making the ski quality a little lower. Above and near tree line the top 5-10cm is wind affected to 4F hardness or harder, smooth windloaded rollovers and concavities above treeline, sastrugi all over. A mid-pack slab of 4F hardness was observed over F facets. Some localized collapsing but not a lot of cracking/whumphing observed. Easy and moderate result compression tests revealed sudden planar results in different portions of the snowpack, with the faceted snow at the ground also producing a crack. An ECT did propagate in the faceted snow near the ground, after a hard blow near-final blow from the shoulder. Coverage is good, didn't hit anything.
Avalanche
One can still see the crown from the recent avalanches on South Diamond Peak, and the bed surface is beginning to fill in. No other avalanches observed north into the Medicine Bow range.