Front Range
SnowpackAustin DiVesta · Dec 7, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
A warm-ish day with pre-frontal winds and clouds from the northwest
Snowpack
Watrous Gulch is still somewhat thin but with enough snow to travel effectively on east-facing slopes. Most open glades have about 30 cm of snow, while some more sheltered trees have about 60 cm. I noted a melt-freeze crust on some slopes near darker objects like trees and rocks lower down in the drainage from the last couple of days. However, this was not a widespread issue. In my snow pit, on an east-facing slope, I found 30 cm of snow that was mostly soft (Fist or 4 Fingers hard) with the expectation of a small melt-freeze crust down 10 cm, which likely formed in late November. Extended Column tests produced easy results (ECTP9@8cm and ECTP11@8cm) on a layer of facets that formed mid-November. This was pretty widespread in my travels today as I had localized cracking and collapsing on this layer. In another pit in more of an exposed area, the slab was thicker and consisted of a mix of soft (4 Finger) and hard (1 Finger) slab about 40cm thick, but it still rested on that weak faceted snow. I got propagation (ECTP11@18cm from the ground) in this pit.