Front Range

Avalanche

Austin DiVesta · Feb 28, 2022 · Front Range

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Weather

Beautiful warm bluebird day with light to moderate winds near ridgelines. Below treeline and in sheltered areas near treeline had almost no wind. Temperatures hovered around freezing if not slight above freezing without the wind chill

Snowpack

I traveled from northeast to east through south. The truck’s thermometer said 30 degrees at the parking lot at 11:00 am. The snow surface below treeline on east and southerly slopes was already moist. I dug a snowpit on an east-facing slope near treeline at about 11300ft, about 130cm deep. The snow height varied slightly in this area from about 115-140cm deep. I found the top couple of centimeters to be moist from the day’s solar radiation as there was not a crust on top yet. Working down the pack, I found a somewhat firm midpack at 4 Finger to 1 Finger in hardness. While these snow grains are moderately strong, they are still faceted, and as we continue to have warm days and cold nights, these will lose strength with no new snow. I was able to get a hard propagating Extended Coloum Test on a layer of basal depth hoar but could not duplicate the result on a second ECT. When I moved towards the alpine, I only noticed a small amount of cracking under my foot in specific areas where the snow was especially weak. They did not shoot more than the length of my skis. The winds have affected much of the alpine, making a stiff slab hard to penetrate with my ski boots. In places that were a little bit sheltered, skis would penetrate 2-4cm at most in areas. I found a couple of small test slopes that were wind-loaded but could not get anything to move besides the small cornices that were formed. They acted a lot like a Loose Dry avalanche if they did go and not a slab avalanche. The winds in the alpine helped keep the snow surface mostly cold and dry for the day. As I skied out, the slopes that had moist snow started to form a melt-freeze zipper crust earlier in the day.

Avalanche

I saw an older looking soft slab avalanche in the middle of the Second Creek Headwall.