Front Range

Snowpack

Rich Rogers ยท Apr 10, 2024

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Weather

Near and slightly above freezing air temps, light breeze(not typical for this mountain, scattered clouds in the morning gave way to overcast skies with a few flakes squeezed out here and there in the afternoon.

Snowpack

The melt-freeze crust, at or near the surface, is very supportive to ski boots where it is thicker than 2-3" and slightly breakable where it is less than 1" thick. The, "Four Finger", soft layers below this crust and above the, "Four Finger", soft basal facets make up most of the snowpack and are thick and "One Finger to Pencil" hard in a hand hardness test. Test results from snowpack tests were Moderate in small column tests and unreactive in large column tests. No evidence of melt water moving deeper than just under the surface. General impression of the snow pack is that it is relatively strong but it has time and potential to gain even more strength in the deeper portions.