Front Range
AvalancheJared Reene · Apr 12, 2021 · Front Range
Weather
1230 hours @ 12,500 ft East facing aspect. Air temp 30 degrees, building clouds with light wind (strong westerlies above ridgeline).
Snowpack
1030 hours @ 13,000ft East Facing aspect: Pencil-hard coral reef from previous night's freeze. 1230 hours @ 12,500ft East facing aspect: Micro-aspects with more southern exposure had approx. 20cm boot pen, while more northerly facing micro-aspects remained pencil-hard. Snowpack remained generally supportable even on more southern micro-aspects, but there was evidence of scouring from previous small wet slides and/or cornice melt in top ~300 ft of couloir.
Avalanche
R1.5, D1 Loose/Wet slide triggered by skier/boarder at the top of the E-facing couloir (13,000, ~50 degree steepness). While relatively small, the wet snow was enough to capture the rider and carry over multiple rocks while continuing to pick up additional snow and momentum. Rider was able to arrest after traveling approximately 500 vertical feet without injury. Avalanche ran for approximately 800 total vertical feet from top of couloir.