Front Range
AvalancheAmanda Loughlin Ian Fowler · Mar 26, 2025 · Front Range
Weather
Warm temperatures with clear skies and a light west breeze.
Snowpack
Traveling on the road this morning, the snow was completely frozen. Our first snow pit on a west-facing aspect showed multiple melt-freeze crusts, and we did not get results on the extended column test (ECTX). Water had not traveled below the top few cm with yesterday's warm-up. When we continued on to southeast aspects near the road, the snow showed considerable signs of warming. In a snow pit on this aspect, we found wet to moist snow from the top to bottom and percolation columns on 4F layer 20cm down from previous warmups. An extended column test and compression test were conducted, producing results of ECTN22 and CT21(SC) for this 4F layer. This snowpack was close to isotermic but not quite there yet. The basal facets were moist, and an upper snowpack slab was present. If we were to see wet slabs anywhere, it may be on steep southerly slopes below treeline. Traveling above treeline most aspects had cold dry snow on them still probably kept cool by a little breeze. Easterly aspects where dry but when we moved around the compass to southerlies the snow was moistening but only in the top 5cm of the snowpack. This was at 1pm. Below the moist surface was a firm right side up snowpack. A snow pit on north facing aspect at 11,650ft showed no concern of wet problems. The surface snow was still cold and powdery and we found similar dry fluffy snow all the way to the trailhead on northerly slopes and in areas shaded from the sun. An extended column test here produced cracking on the 25th tap on 1F layer 15cm down but no propagation. Skiing on the road below the tree line in the afternoon, the snow was wet and we were getting arond 15 to 20cm ski penetration on southerly slopes close to the trailhead at the end of the day. .
Avalanche
A wind slab avalanche observed from the ridgeline of Guide Peak. We suspect this slide is several days old and occurred during recent high winds.