Front Range

Snowpack

Austin DiVesta · Feb 22, 2024 · Front Range

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Weather

It felt like a spring day with intermittent snow flurries all day. The sun was intense when it came out.

Snowpack

Southeast slopes remain a mixed bag of crust and slabs in some form of decay. An Extended Column Test (ECT) did not produce a propagating result (ECTN15 down 30cm) on a melt-freeze crust that formed before the last storm. I did note that the basal facets were starting to round a bit and gain a bit of strength but still had 4 4-finger hardness. While approaching an east-facing slope, I found only snow heights of 90 to 115 cm, which surprised me as I was below a ridge. Here, I saw more of a slab over a weak layer without any melt-freeze facet combinations. An ECT propagated (ECTP19@43cm) in a layer above the basal facets.