Front Range
AvalancheIan Fowler · May 1, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Partially cloudy skies helped to prevent the snowpack from totally falling apart but when the sun came out, it was extremely warm. Winds were light.
Snowpack
Slopes in the morning had a decent freeze and were supportive. Descending off Golden Bear, the snow was firm and chalky on a northeasterly aspect at about 10.30am. But was soft and corn-like at around 12,200ft on an easterly aspect. Skinning up to the Citadel around 11ish, the snow was wet, easy to skin, and not sliding or sheeting off. It was just the top two to three inches that were moist on a crust below. At the top of the Citadel, we found cold snow on northerly aspects, and there were still some wind-loaded pockets that were well bonded to the surface below. As we descended, we had periods when there were mixed snow problems with cold snow over punchier wet snow. This was a short elevation window before getting down into the valley and skiing creamy corn. At lower elevations, snow that was not tracked was punchy, and snowshoers had posthold 1-2ft deep in places around the willows.
Avalanche
I did see many older slides mostly from steep northerly through easterly terrain. There was nothing new when we were out.