Front Range

Avalanche

Mike Cooperstein · Nov 20, 2017 · Front Range

Weather

Beautiful day. Warm near treeline, but windy and cold at the ridge line. There was a moderate amount of wind transport occurring throughout the day, but it wasn't forming slabs.

Snowpack

relatively stable snowpack. Ranged from about 100cm near treeline to places near the margins of gullies that were very thin. There is depth hoar at the ground, but it is only about 20cm thick. The layer of concern is a faceted layer just below what I'm guessing is a rain crust. This crust seems isolated to lower elevations. At this point the layer is not very reactive, but it should be watched as more of a load is added.

Avalanche

It was a clear day and I was able to get to the ridgeline and see a lot of terrain including higher peaks to the south and I didn't observe any avalanche activity at all.