Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · Feb 8, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Calm and sunny in the valley felt warm. Above treeline winds were strong and cold with plenty of snow still moving around.
Snowpack
Below treeline snow was about 1 meter deep and mostly fist hard with a weak (4F+) midpack slab. Extended Column Tests on the snowpack below treeline would not propagate. Although the snow was weak I was not able to get any Loose Dry avalanches to move on steeper north and northeast slopes. Near treeline on a northeast aspect we found 150cm of snow with a variety of weaker layers but were not able to get failures apart from on the basal facet layers 120cm deep. East facing above treeline had a hard slab with 0cm of ski penetration and similar boot penetration. This was about 15-20cm thick and was sitting on a weak faceted layer. This layer failed on isolation.