Front Range
SnowpackAnonymous · Mar 18, 2011 · Front Range
Weather
Sunny & clear, warm mild temps. Windy on high ridgelines around 12,000', gusty winds from S & W increasing in afternoon. Open areas near and below treeline had developed a sun/wind crust about 1" thick by late afternoon.
Snowpack
12-20" new, with lighter snow in the top 10-12". Slabs were quickly building 2-3'deep with wind transport on open N & E facing slopes at 11-12,000'. In a quick 2M pit on a 30 degree NE facing slope at 11,700 we had easy-moderate failures at 40 and 60 cm, Q2 with about 10 taps. Alpine snow was wind rippled but still soft and powdery at the surface. We noticed widespread sluffing in the storm snow on all aspects, N & E facing slopes and gullies in particular, including the South shoulder area. At around 3:00 p.m. we observed a large sluff that released from near the high ridgeline across steeper areas of the S Diamond Peak face (Path Area 8). Sluffs covered multiple path areas approximately 3-400' across, ran approximately 1000 feet vertical, and deposited snow several feet deep on the shallower bench area. The slope was receiving heavy wind loading, and at the same time a skier was descending on a less steep section of the slope a few hundred feet to the north. Sluffs released about 1-2' deep within the new snow, starting from the ridgeline in several adjacent areas, and seemed to step down to the denser base layer of storm snow in some places in the lower third of the path, with a pretty impressive powder cloud.