Front Range

Snowpack

Highly variable coverage and very wind affected in exposed areas. Lot's of wind loading around terrain features near treeline. One steep wind-loaded slope at 11600 ne aspect cracked when skied by another party. We also had 20-30 foot shooting cracks when we climbed this feature. Other test slopes facing ene-se were not reactive to ski cuts. Many areas had hollow wind slab adjacent to soft slab conditions. Prominent strong over weak layering on all aspects we traveled. Facets/depth hoar beneath storm slab and old, buried wind slabs. Surface conditions were variable with crusts, wind slab, NSF and some settled storm snow. Surface hoar up to .5 cm was noted in some sheltered areas.