Front Range
SnowpackRyan Zarter · Jan 24, 2024 · Front Range
Weather
Mostly cloudy skies, temps near freezing, and calm winds. Maybe an inch of new snow in the last 24hrs.
Snowpack
The snowpack in this area is shallower than areas to the north and west, but the structure is similar--a recently formed slab from the first half of January on top of well-developed basal facets. Below about 11,000 feet the average snow depth was 60cm or less, and any areas that had seen sun in recent days had a melt-freeze crust near the surface of the snowpack. As I climbed above 11,000 feet, the average snow depth was closer to a meter. Currently the slab is strong enough to support a highway forecaster on skis, however without skis I was pretty consistently sinking to the ground. Digging on an east aspect near treeline I found the slab/basal facet interface to be just below the middle of the snowpack (43cm up from the ground in a 96cm deep pit), and got hard propagating ECT results on this interface.