Front Range
AvalancheAndrew McWilliams, Jason Konigsberg · Mar 17, 2024 · Front Range
Weather
Periods of sun between mostly to partly cloudy skies with variable light winds. High temperature near freezing.
Snowpack
We observed multiple large avalanches on numerous aspects on above treeline slopes. The recent slides likely ran during or immediately after the storm sometime between 3/13-3/15. These slides were all on thinner slopes with variable coverage, lots of rocks, and broke on weak snow below the most recent storm interface. Interestingly, we observed a generally strong snowpack where we dug snow pits on north, east, and southeast slopes. A quick snowpit on a north-facing near treeline slope showed a snow height ranging from 150-250cm deep with dense slabs making up most of the snowpack. There was about 50cm of storm snow and about 40cm of basal facets. There were some softer, weak layers within the dense slabs, but they were not very well defined and only a half or whole step softer than the surrounding snow on the Hand Hardness Scale. There was no result in an Extended Column Test (ECT). In a snowpit on a southeast, near treeline slope, there was an easy result in an ECT, but the weak layer beneath the storm snow is guarded by a two inch thick melt-freeze crust and could be difficult for a person to affect.
Avalanche
The largest avalanches were on east, northeast, and north-facing slopes. It seemed slope aspects was less important than whether or not the slope was previously thin before this last storm. We also observed a few large avalanches on west and northwest-facing slopes. Most of these ran during the storm.