Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · Mar 6, 2025 · Front Range
Weather
In the morning it felt like skiing in the Pacific Northwest, warm and damp. Then a squall came through snowing S2 in seconds.
Snowpack
Below the treeline, there was around 150cm of settled snow, which was capped with about 15cm of storm snow from the previous few days. Probing through with a pole, the midpack felt firm without a dramatic pop at the base of the snowpack. Working into the near treeline band, I could feel a stout Melt-Freeze Crust beneath fist-hard storm snow. This crust was about 30cm deep and, on the southeast aspects, was about 5cm thick and propagated on shoulder taps. On a more easterly aspect, the crust was closer to 1cm and fractured from the elbow. On both these aspects, there was a softer layer that is probably faceting below the crust but above a firmer bed surface of pencil-hard old snow. This crust is a layer to watch. It may not be a problem where it is stronger, but where it tapers in thickness and becomes collapsible due to elevation or aspect, it may be more problematic. In these areas the snowpack was always between 170 and 200cm and felt pretty strong when probed. There was a weaker area in the last 30cm to the ground but you would have to find a weaker area of the snowpack to affect it. On a north aspect above treeline, I felt around 200cm of firm snow with a little pop at the ground. On this aspect the new snow was sat directly on a wind pressed pencil hard layer and was poorly bonded.