Front Range
SnowpackRyan Zarter · Jan 22, 2024 · Front Range
Weather
BKN skies with periods of occasional light snow. Calm winds. Temps hovering around freezing or above.
Snowpack
We traveled on east to north aspects below and near treeline today, and saw very few signs of instability where we traveled--moderate collapsing in the valley bottom on the way out of Dry Gulch, but otherwise the snowpack was eerily silent. The snowpack was, on average, a bit over a meter deep. This was fairly consistent below treeline, but snow depth varied more as we got closer to treeline. Snowpack structure consisted of a slab that was supportive to travel on skis and that sits on a well developed basal facet layer. Moderate to hard propagating ECT results at this interface in pits on east and northeast aspects. The basal facet/slab interface is about 30cm above the ground. As has been noted in many other areas recently, there is a marked difference between ski and boot penetration.