Front Range
SnowpackAndrew Councell · Feb 15, 2013 · Front Range
Weather
Visibility on the ridge crest was near 20' max; we tucked in off the ridge to transition to skiing. Strong winds and intense blowing snow made visibility and communication difficult. As the photos show, the wind was easily transporting lots of snow onto this slope.
Snowpack
~25cm of new snow plus windslab in the last 36 hours have settled over a poorly-structured snowpack. We experienced an untold number of whumpfs, shooting cracks and massive settlements in the snowpack (on W-SW aspects) across the valley from where the avalanche occurred. Despite the wind's ability to make the surface look uniform, the snowpack remains extremely variable. Where the avalanche occurred, the slope had slid previously, around the beginning of the month, with remnants of debris still visible from the last slide. Massive wind-loading transported nearly 3' of snow to form a new slab resting on a still-weak bed-surface comprised of depth hoar in the start zone and sun crust lower down.