Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · May 16, 2025 · Front Range
Weather
It was windy, snowy, cold and generally cloudy.
Snowpack
Near Treeline on southerly aspects there was about 20cm of settled storm snow over a crust. The new snow easily pulled off the crust beneath in hand shears. On a north aspect NTL, there was about 50cm of storm snow. This snow was failing on a density change down about 10cm, where I got a propagating result from the wrist. Above treeline storm snow heights were similar ranging from 40 to 50cm on north and east aspects. In tests there were multiple failures at 5cm and 15 cm from the surface. The snow was dense and the failures were from the elbow and the shoulder. The snow did not feel like it would be very reactive to ski cuts as it is very dense 1 finger or pencil hardness at the surface.