Front Range
SnowpackAustin DiVesta · Dec 21, 2021 · Front Range
Weather
Warm and sunny day. Winds below treeline were calm while near treeline winds were light to moderate out of the west.
Snowpack
The snowpack on the west side of Rocky Mountian National Park is generally shallow and weak. Below treeline was very thin in places ranging from a couple of inches to two feet in wind drifted areas. There were obvious signs of cracking and collapsing on any slope that is more northerly-facing and shady--the cracking and collapsing failed on a crust facet combination down 25cm. As soon as you moved towards southerly-facing slopes, those signs of instability went away and later in the day even became moist. Near treeline produced similar results to below treeline, but with more of a slab on top of crust facet combinations. On an east slope at roughly 10700ft produced easy propagation results from both an extended column test and a propagation saw test (5/100END). At 11400ft, I found a southeast-facing slope that did not produce significant propagation results but did have a crust/facet combination which could be problematic later on in the season.