Front Range
SnowpackMax Strotbeck · Feb 4, 2025 · Front Range
Weather
Above freezing temperatures all day but moderate southwest winds and overcast to broken skies kept the snow surface, and me, cooler. No new snow, though there was still light transport of snow that fell over the weekend.
Snowpack
On east aspects, height of snow averaged around 160cm, which is very similar to our last visit in mid-January. The snow surface was strewn with pine needles, small twigs, and some dust from recent moderate to strong winds. It was slightly moist from the warm temperatures below tree line to the point you could make a poor snowball, but less so near tree line where the winds kept the surface cool. Ski penetration was 10cm at most. The slab above the December drought layer was mostly right side-up and one-finger hard, with the exception being near tree line where 2-25+cm of wind-drifted snow on the surface was firmer than the snow beneath. This slab is close to a meter in depth, and lies atop 60cm of faceted snow. I saw propagation with hard taps in an extended column test on this faceted snow (ECTP29 @63cm). Ridgelines had significant sastrugi patterns from persistent wind effect making for very difficult skiing, and windward faces were entirely stripped of snow.