Front Range
Snowpackrob coppolillo · Feb 13, 2013 · Front Range
Weather
winds shifted from north around to wind during morning. moderate to strong BloSno. features that have slid to the ground recently (like shots off the aqueduct down to current parking) have filled back in. finally some wind pillows forming in places like teacup bowl and lower 110s. storm snow forming into soft slabs throughout day.
Snowpack
highly variable within short distances. persistent slabs within snowpack are discontinuous--present in some places and others not, all within 10m. two melt-freeze crust/facet combos present in the upper 50cm of snowpack. CTM Q2 SC on the deeper of the two crusts, 30cm in spot where we performed CT. hand shear in same area failed on isolation. this was at 11,700ft at top of 110s, east-facing slope. lower at the rollover into teacup bowl another hand shear failed easily, Q2 SC 35cm down. 30-40cm of depth hoar in both locations. persistent slabs difficult to track/predict locations. storm snow stiffening throughout day. things could get bitchy with a good dump from thurs/friday storm.