Front Range
AvalancheAndrew McWilliams · Dec 26, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
Broken skies with light to moderate winds from the northwest. Temperatures were in the single digits and light snowfall did not accumulate.
Snowpack
The snow below treeline was not wind-affected, but was supportable to travel both uphill and down. Near treeline the wind had stiffened the recent snow into a cohesive slab one-finger to four-finger hard on the Hand Hardness Scale. In snowpits on northeast and east-facing slopes, I found a layer of near-surface facets beneath the new slab. This interface was reactive in Extended Column Tests (ECTs) where the slab was consistent across the column and I made a small avalanche from the margin of an east-facing wind-loaded test slope. In some areas, the slab was more variable, and ECT results were easy but non-propagating on this layer. I didn't observe any cracking or collapsing on my tour and ECTs only had results after taps from the shoulder on the depth hoar layer. Near and below treeline there are still areas where you transition from a supportable slab to an almost structureless snowpack depending on wind exposure and depth.
Avalanche
I triggered a small Wind Slab avalanche on a test slope that faces east through southeast at 11,600 feet at the head of the First Creek drainage.