Front Range
AvalancheIan Fowler · Apr 7, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Sunny and warm with blustery winds.
Snowpack
Winds have blown firm slabs into many areas. Northerly facing terrain looks stripped of snow, and skiers in these areas were not leaving any impression in the firm snow. The wind has created slabs around 20cm thick on the east and southeast slopes above and near treeline. We did not see any cracking or collapsing. We had easy and sudden results on a facet crust combo down about 40cm in a snow profile on an ESE slope above treeline. These slabs were propagating in extended column tests. Below this facet crust combo was a melt-freeze crust that was impenetrable to a shovel and very hard to probe through. I would be surprised to see anything penetrate below this crust. We observed soft snow and no windslab below treeline.
Avalanche
Observed from I-70 so limited info and I could not see the debris pile to estimate D size.