Front Range

Southeast aspects near and below treeline: sun is starting to affect the upper snowpack. I found 5 to 10 cm of moist snow by midday. In some spots there was a 0.5 cm thick ice crust about 20 cm below the snow surface.

The snowpack is shallow and faceted (surprise!). It was mostly supportable to travel on skis, with the occasional spot of unsupportable snow. The upper 20 cm of the snowpack consists of near-surface facets. The snowpack is extremely variable depending on the drifting over the season (surprise!). The layer of depth hoar is 20 to 40 cm thick, and present almost everywhere. Overlying layers ranged from non-existent in scoured areas to 100 cm of K-hard windslab. I triggered one whumpf in a shallow area adjacent to deeply wind-drifted snow (see profile).