Front Range

Snowpack

Keith Musselman · Dec 28, 2017 · Front Range

View on map

Weather

Partly sunny, light winds, 24 deg F.,

Snowpack

Settled 15 inches of fresh snow within the past 48 hrs., atop more consolidated wind slab and older snow layers. Total depth was 3 ft. Snowpack was touchy, with whomphing collapses moving large distances, but no cracking. Pit and compression test revealed two weak layers with clean shear that broke with a few taps from wrist: one about 10 in down in (pre-Christmas Day) fresh snow, and another at the interface with underlying wind slab. Two taps from elbow triggered a Q1 shear about 8 inches from ground on the prominent melt-freeze layer & bed of facets. This layer seemed to be the culprit for the collapsing.