Front Range
AvalancheColin Wann · Dec 18, 2016 · Front Range
Weather
Winds through the night took our powder skiing away and inserted classic Colorado Variable conditions. Colds temps and dramatic ridge top pluming shrouded the divide in a veil of transported snow. BTL winds were light during the day, but must've been significant through the night since there was wind affected snow at all elevations AND aspects above 9,500. Clear skies obscured by wind-borne snow. These winds were so steady and strong over the last 24 hours that deposition wasn't occurring BTL.
Snowpack
Wind skins to slabs pronounced the snowpack today, forming from 3cm to 20cm thick at all elevations in this zone. Some places got stripped to the bones. Compression tests produced slightly less touchy results than yesterday at the same elevation and aspect. Failures at the ground on Basal Facets, in addition to upper snowpack failures in the Storm/Wind slab complicated travel options. I experienced 2 whoompfs BTL on a N aspect, one of which propagated uphill and 15 away, failing from trigger point to trigger point
Avalanche
I started a small slide on 35 degree East facing terrain that initiated below a thin wind slab and stepped down into the new snow, sliding on old snow but not to the ground.