Front Range
AvalancheRyan Lewthwaite · Feb 15, 2020 · Front Range
Weather
Building clouds during the morning then overcast by 1pm. Winds were moderate from the southwest near treeline with active snow transport. 17F degrees.
Snowpack
The sun has created thin, surface melt-freeze crusts on southeast, south, and southwest aspects. Protected north and east aspects have soft snow from last weeks storm. Near treeline ridges have a newly formed layer of wind drifted snow that is 6-10cm thick. This surface wind pack is unsupportable, hollow, and may be a concern with new snow loading it. Persistent weak layers are buried over a meter deep on lee aspects at this location and are unreactive in stability tests. Good stability overall on north facing slopes near and below treeline.
Avalanche
A large avalanche in the east facing bowl of Mount Stratus.