Front Range
SnowpackRyan Zarter · Feb 12, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Scattered clouds with temps in the teens. Strong northwest winds were moving plenty of snow both at ridge top and lower on slopes, though at times winds may have been too strong for effective loading.
Snowpack
I traveled below and near treeline on east, northeast, and southwest aspects before digging on a southeast aspect just above treeline. In wind affected areas I observed cracking in the new snow around my skis. I also had a couple of localized collapses. On steeper, wind-drifted features I was able to force shallow slabs to break about as wide as my skis. On steeper, north to northeast facing features below treeline I was able to push small facets sloughs. In larger terrain features I'm sure they would have been able to pick up a bit of steam. Traveling on a southwest aspect below and near treeline I found last night’s snow sitting on a fairly stout melt-freeze crust. In some places the winds had scoured the new snow down to the crust, in others it was drifted 6 or more inches deep. This upper melt-freeze crust sits over a couple of other crust/facet sandwiches that overlay larger facets above the ground. In the Bethel slide path (southeast aspect) I found a shallow slab forming over several crust/facet layers. This all sits on top of a faceted basal snowpack. I had propagating ECT results (ECTPV and ECTP12) about 25cm below the surface on 1mm facets sandwiched between to melt-freeze crusts.