Front Range

Snowpack

On southerly-facing slopes, the snow was becoming moist and it felt like if we found a steep slope, we could initiate a loose wet avalanche. we dug on an east-facing slope and found a deep snowpack due to wind loading throughout the season. The slab was 90 cm thick above a stout melt-freeze crust. We got no propagating test results. Next we dug on a southeast-facing slope. There was very weak faceted snow beneath a thick melt-freeze crust (4 cm thick). We got propagating results (ECTP13) on the facets below the crust. Hard to interpret these results because the slope was low angle and by using an ECT we cut out the strength of the thick crust which could probably support a lot of weight before affecting layers below. On the way to the ridge and the top of Mt Trelease, we walked through drifted snow but got no cracking. Finally, we dug on a sheltered northeast-facing near treeline slope. We found a snow height of 135 cm. The March slab was about 25 cm thick resting on weak facets. The slab was not cohesive enough so we got only non-propagating results in ECTs. Something to watch going forward as this area has yet to see a load in sheltered areas that other parts of the state have.