Front Range
AvalancheMike Cooperstein · Mar 20, 2021 · Front Range
Weather
Warm day. It was in the mid 40's at the trailhead but cooled off quickly as the sun got lower. Westerly winds were still transporting snow at the ridgetops.
Snowpack
Top 5 to 15 centimeters of snow was moist. You could squeeze free water out on steep south-facing slopes below treeline. Still a lot of weak unsupportable snow below treeline. The snowpack gets deeper and harder in the near treeline elevation band. There is still weak snow at the ground, but the snowpack is supportable and it is hard to effect that layer. I did not find any evidence of any mid-pack near-surface faceted layers. Some areas where the wind deposited snow in the above treeline elevation band are deep, 250 centimeters, other areas are only 130-150 centimeters deep. The structure is still poor, but there are no signs of recent avalanche activity, and it took a lot of hammering to get the basal weak layers to propagate a fracture in the deeper spots. The most dangerous areas are the thin, rocky, above treeline areas. Steer clear of big rocky shoots where the wind has stripped the starting zones. Be careful in thinner areas. You can still trigger a dangerous avalanche that breaks at the ground in high elevation wind scoured terrain.
Avalanche
Small loose wet avalanches on south and southeast-facing slopes. Nothing large enough to injure a person.